Autumn Bookbug Sessions Announced By Cornerstone House Centre: Bookings Open

Bookbug will return to Cornerstone House Centre this September, with Cumbernauld Family Hub inviting local mums, dads and carers to reserve places for scheduled Thursday morning sessions.

Commencing on Thursday 2 September 2021, free 25-minute Bookbug sessions will take place weekly at Cornerstone House Centre’s community-owned building (1 Esk Walk, Town Centre, Cumbernauld, G67 1BZ) for a period of six weeks. Participants can book to join sittings beginning at 10.00am, 10.45am or 11.30am.

Bookbug is for children aged 0-5 years and their parents, guardians or kinship carers. It provides an opportunity for families to enjoy sharing stories, songs and rhymes in a safe, friendly and informal environment.

Attending a Bookbug class is a great way for families to spend time bonding with each other and meet other parents in the local area. It can also help to build children’s social skills and support their speech and language development.

Most importantly, Bookbug sessions are fun, with group leaders trained to facilitate stories and songs in an entertaining and interactive way. Parents and children attending Bookbug gatherings hosted by Cornerstone House Centre can expect a warm welcome and to be made feel at ease.

Sessions had been put on hold until recently because of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic but have now been given the green light to resume following easing of lockdown restrictions by Scottish Government. Karen Lawson, Family Hub Development Officer at Cornerstone House Centre, commented:

“We are really looking forward to welcoming children and adults back to Cornerstone House during September and October for our autumn round of Bookbug.

“The sessions are full of enjoyment for children and promote positive interactions, relationships and emotional development.

“Cornerstone House Centre safely hosted some post-lockdown Bookbug sessions this summer and it was fantastic to see some babies coming along for the first time and children returning to join in with their favourite songs.

“Parents interested in attending can be assured that a full health and safety risk assessment in relation to COVID-19 has been undertaken and that Cornerstone House Centre as an organisation is committed to taking every reasonable step to ensure the safety of all visitors from the moment they enter until the moment they leave the building.

“This includes social distancing, clear instructions for safe walking routes around the premises, the installation of several hand sanitising stations, high standards of cleanliness and Perspex screens at reception and other areas where Centre staff and volunteers are operating.”

Cornerstone House Centre is an affiliated partner of Scottish Book Trust and is experienced in supporting children and families to grow and confidently develop through reading stories and singing songs together.

Bookbug has made an extremely important contribution in effectively supporting families who face barriers to accessing services in Scotland over the last ten years, and Cornerstone House Centre has been proud to play a small part in its growth.

Locally, delivery of the programme has enabled Cumbernauld Family Hub to reach and support families that it may otherwise not have had the opportunity to, in particular parents and guardians experiencing disadvantage or inequality as a result of health, finance, age or social status.

It has been widely acknowledged that Bookbug helps parents feel better equipped to play and interact with their children, improves the language and communication skills of toddlers, prepares children for adapting to nursery and increases the guardianship confidence of kinship carers.

As well as attending weekly sessions, Cumbernauld Family Hub is encouraging local families to make use of online Bookbug resources. These include Bookbug’s Songs and Rhymes App, the Bookbug Song and Rhyme Library and the Bookbug Home Activities Hub.

Online Bookbug videos are also available through North Lanarkshire Libraries’ You Tube channel, with new content posted every week. Cornerstone House Centre, however, is one of the few organisations in North Lanarkshire currently delivering in-person Bookbug sessions.

Meanwhile, a limited number of places are still available for Cornerstone House Centre’s upcoming delivery of the popular and nationally recognised personal development course Living Life to the Full.

Living Life to the Fullis an award-winning course that provides participants with key knowledge in how to develop skills to tackle feelings of low mood, stress and distress arising from work, parenting, relationships and other aspects of life. It involves Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and locally the programme has been highly successful in achieving a range of positive outcomes and impacts for participants.

The course is free of charge and will incorporate 12 hours of learning over a period of eight sessions. The first session will be on Wednesday 18 August 2021 from 11.00am-12.30pm at Cornerstone House, with 90-minute sessions taking place at the same time and venue every Wednesday thereafter for a total of eight weeks.

Places on both Bookbug and Living Life to the Full are offered on a first-come first-served basis. For further information or to book places on either programme, please contact Cornerstone House Centre on 01236 739220 or email familyhub@cornerstone-house.org.uk.

Click Here to Download Bookbug Information Poster for Autumn 2021

Click Here to Download Cornerstone House Centre’s Living Life to the Full Course Information Leaflet for Autumn 2021