A project from Bookstart is offering children's centre staff a way to work more closely with disadvantaged families. Ruth Thomson explains.

Disadvantaged families have become more engaged with reading after taking part in Bookstart Corner, a support programme that is also providing some children's centre staff with a route to working more closely with this social group.

'The programme has been a fundamental tool in reaching the most hard-to-reach families in our area,' says one participant. 'It has not only enabled workers to explore the habits of book sharing, songs and rhymes but it has also enabled workers to extend and discuss issues around routine, speech and language.'

Bookstart Corner has grown out of the Bookstart programme, which provides new parents - through their health visitor, children's centre or local library - with two free packs of books for their child during their pre-school years.

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