Whitley Wood Playgroup

The Whitley Wood Playgroup initiative was funded by the Research England Participatory Research Fund. Our team worked collaboratively with parents and other community leaders to co-create storybook sessions for parents and children under 5 in the Whitley Wood area.

We conducted focus groups with parents and local community stakeholders which helped us to identify what local families needed and wanted out of the sessions, what potential barriers there might be to participating and to publicise the project so that plenty of local people knew about it. Whitley Wood Playgroup was set up in the autumn of 2023, and from January 2024 we ran ten storybook sessions integrated into the playgroup, where we read a different story each week. We set up multi-sensory enrichment activities that linked to the book, and every family could take home a copy of the book with them to keep.

Thanks to a successful crowdfunding campaign (launched in April 2024) we now have sufficient funds to continue the playgroup until April 2025 and provide a much needed resources for the local community. The playgroup session lasts for an hour and a half and aims to replicate an Early Years care setting, with healthy snacks for the children, tidy up time and songs to finish. It has a specific focus on developing Early Years literacy and language skills whilst also aiming to provide a safe and supportive space for the parents/carers and their children.