This week (aside from shivering in the cold), I've been focusing on the following:
- Better Start / Early Years provision: I tuned into a webinar on Monday to hear about the impact of the National Lottery funded programme, Better Start, in a variety of different locations across the country. ASCEL recognise the key role libraries play in supporting early years development, and are also keen to view this holistically, as part of wrap-around support for 0-5 year olds. Working with national partners is vital - something we've made good progress with, via our Children's Promise Alliance.
- Risk Assessment: I attended a training session on risk assessment for youth programmes, which was commissioned by the National Youth Agency. The whole day was insightful with plenty of practical guidance and advice, but I found it especially useful to reflect on the benefits of good risk assessment practice, the need for it to be embedded in all activities, and the different types of risk. For me, sometimes there's a tendency to zone in on health and safety or safeguarding risks, so it was helpful to be reminded of other risks to consider, such as reputational, security and data protection.
- Youth Engagement Network: The fourteen library services taking part in this work are starting to get underway; building relationships with local partners and even beginning to make connections with the children and young people themselves. I've been actively welcoming feedback and suggestions from them; including how best to open up access to specialist training, plus identifying some key areas to focus on at our next group meeting.
I'm taking a breather next week, but the week after, we'll be holding our February Members' Meet-Up. This is a Spark Session, which means members can come along with their own ideas for discussion-points, then put questions to the 'hive mind'.
We'll also be spending a day in London with the Libraries Connected team - looking forward to this!
My eldest son and I have been delving into some folk horror films this week (which we have a shared enthusiasm for). Some of the films from the 1960s and 1970s are particularly enjoyable!
On a similar theme, I've finished reading the excellent Withered Hill by David Barnett, which had a deliciously large number of folk horror tropes in it, while being an absolute page-turner.