Labour Councillors for Telegraph Hill Ward

Bookstart is the national programme that provides free books to babies and young children at three key stages in their early development. We are delighted to report that 2009/10 was another hugely successful year for Bookstart in Lewisham, reaching 100% of newborn babies, 99% of two year olds and 100% of three year olds in the Borough. The Library and Information Service works closely with a wide range of partners and colleagues, whose continued support in delivering and promoting the scheme is key to achieving such fantastic results.  

During the period April 2009 - March 2010 the following numbers of Bookstart packs were delivered to locations in the Telegraph Hill ward:  

Honor Oak Health Centre - 720 packs in total (Bookstart and Bookstart Plus packs, to be distributed by health visitors to families at 8-month and 2-year health checks)

Telegraph Hill Playclub - 60 packs (20 each of Bookstart, Bookstart Plus and Treasure Chests)  

A total of 171 Treasure Chests (for 3 year olds) were delivered to a range of locations in the ward including Honor Oak Early Childhood Centre, school nurseries and private nurseries.   The delivery of 120 Treasure Chests for Chelwood Nursery School due in March 2010 was rescheduled to May 2010 as they were one of the 28 settings in the Borough that took part in the Every Child a Talker (ECAT) project. This meant that a special ECAT gifting session was held in May, attended by library staff and a speech and language therapist. The session involved sharing stories and rhymes with the children, as well as giving parents/carers the opportunity to talk to a speech and language therapist. The Treasure Chests contained supplementary ECAT material including a Keeping the Beat CD and songsheet and a set of ducks.