EXPLORATION OF EARLY YEARS TOYBOX PROGRAMME WITH TRAVELLER COMMUNITIES

Description: The Early Years Toybox programme was a unique intervention in which field staff engaged with families within the traveller community, specifically with children aged from birth to four years old. The key aims of the Toybox Programme were:

- To get children between the ages of birth to four years, involved in pre-school activities in nurseries and playgroups – either traveller site nurseries, community playgroups or statutory nurseries.
- To build the confidence of parents in the education process, and to see the importance of education for their children.
- To prepare children to move into Primary School Education.

Toybox field workers used a carefully thought through methodology, drawing on the High Scope Model that emerged from Detroit USA from the 1960s and 70s. It was an evidence-based approach, where the value of intervention can be monitored. The Toybox Programme had been evaluated, but the written from of evaluation struggled to bring the Programme to life, and to show the human interactions that were central to the approach. To address this gap a film was researched and produced.