we will be asking you to pay £1.00 per family group

To attend each Toy Library session

We have thought and talked long and hard about this but it has become more and more difficult to get enough funding to keep these sessions going without finding other ways to pay for them.

When we asked members if they would support this the overwhelming response was that you would.

Toy Loan charges

Families will continue to be charged 15p per toy per week

but the charge to Childminders will go up to 50p per toy per week

The schools are back this week and here is a reminder of when our sessions will be starting again in 2010:

Our After School sessions in Crabtree Community Centre start this week on Tuesday 5^th January.

The first Pulley Park session is on Saturday 9^th January.

All Play and Lend sessions will restart next week, that is the week beginning Monday 11^th January.

See you soon.

Each year it gets more difficult to raise enough money for us to run our Toy Library Play and Lend Sessions. These are the sessions for families with pre-school children that run during school terms in community centres and church halls in and around Bulwell. Last year well over 200 families used these sessions.

For the 30 years that we have been running them they have been completely free, the only cost being a voluntary payment of 15p to borrow a toy.

To keep the Toy Library sessions running in the future we have no choice but to think seriously about starting to make a small charge.

The Management Committee and staff have thought long and hard about this and don’t want to do anything without finding out what our members think. Many of you will know that we recently asked people to fill in a questionnaire about charging at the sessions.

The results of the questionnaire were almost all in favour of us making a small charge to come to each session. Most people suggested that a fair amount to charge was £1 per session per family or childminder.

This will be discussed at the next meeting of our Management Committee, please let us know what you think if you haven’t already.

Are they a good thing or a bad thing? Have your say.

For -  Children love the thrill of scary games and activities. Also research has shown that they can build up their ability to deal with fear and difficult emotions in the future by including such things in their play.

Against -  Some religious groups believe that children should not be encouraged to do Halloween activities because they involve things that they consider to be wrong. Also some people believe that children may be upset by activities that are scary.

Click on comments below to tell us what you think.

Look out for your copy or download a pdf verion here and now.

Download our Play & Lend Sessions leaflet

The project, called Language through Toys and Play, has been run by Bulwell Community Toy Library for nearly 10 years and involves experienced staff visiting children at home and using toys and play to encourage language, play and communication skills.

The children, aged between one and five years, are referred to the project via healthcare professionals such as health visitors. Referrals are also made by professionals working with children from both the public and voluntary and community sectors, usually when a child has mild speech and language difficulties.

Steve Parkinson from the toy library explains:

“It’s fantastic that we’re going to be able to continue the project thanks to NHS Nottingham City. The project has made a big difference to families and children in the area, largely because Language through Toys and Play involves the whole family, not just the child, plus of course, the project is run in people’s own homes, so they’re always in familiar and comfortable surroundings.”

Steve continues:

“The toys and play techniques used in the project are carefully selected, depending on the child’s individual needs, with the aim of involving both the child and its parent/s or carer/s in play activities designed to encourage child development, including language, communication, thinking and imagination.

In addition, the project also inspires and enables parent/s and carer/s to play more regularly with their children and to value play as an important part of parenting.”

Rosemary Galbraith, Head of Children’s Specialist Services, NHS Nottingham City, agrees with Steve that the Language Through Toys and Play project is making a real difference:

“We are delighted to be able to support this project. The toy library has been around for a long time and it’s very well known and trusted by local families, making it easier for them to benefit from the help it provides.

The project offers an early and preventative way to help children with mild speech and language difficulties, making it less likely that they’ll need specialist attention from someone like a speech therapist later on.”

Steve concludes:

“The Language through Toys and Play project is great for parents’ confidence too. For example, one parent whose child was helped by the project now works part time as a Session Leader for the toy library. She’s also recently completed the intensive training to become a Parenting Trainer too and recently co-ran a parenting course for local people with a Nottingham City Council social worker.

It’s great to know that we’re helping parents, as well as children, and thanks to NHS Nottingham City we’ll be able to continue doing just that.”

A parent whose son has benefited from the project says:

“My son wasn’t talking as well as we thought he should for his age so the Health Visitor suggested getting the Toy Library project to come to the house and work with him. It was a real help and when he started school they couldn’t believe he’d ever had speech problems and it meant he wasn’t behind the others in the class.”

As well as running the Language through Toys and Play project the toy library also loans toys and play equipment to families for free or for a nominal charge. The toy library has been running for 30 years and also offers families a range of play activities and resources.

Home visits are carried out by experienced staff using carefully selected toys and techniques to engage both the child and the parent/s in play activities which promote the development of the child including language, communication, thinking and imagination. Activities also encourage and enable parent/s to value and practise regular playful interaction with their children.

The project works with families in Bulwell, an area of Nottingham City with significant social and economic deprivation as well as a history of poor educational attainment. These factors both contribute to, and are in turn reinforced by, low levels of parenting skill and confidence.

Delay in speech and language can be a very early indicator of problems in a child’s development. The LTTP project offers an early and preventative intervention which can offset the need for more specialist attention later. It addresses parenting capacity and identifies any need for other interventions at an early stage.

Many of the families demonstrate reluctance to engage with statutory agencies. Bulwell Community Toy Library is well known, community based and respected in the area. The learning offered is both play based and hands on, building trusting relationships with excluded families.

This relationship can lead, where appropriate, to supporting families to access other services and to engage more confidently with statutory services such as schools.