A scheme to support local families and help get little ones "school-ready" by the age of five has been launched at Burton Library.
Ready Steady library has been underway for several months, after the Arts Council England Fund gifted Staffordshire County Council £52,300.
The initiative aims to provide children with the abilities and social skills necessary for success at school by the age of five.
The project has seen families with children aged six months to three years attend free weekly sessions with early years' specialist and arts practitioner Jacqui Shankly.
The sessions, which included songs and activities, were designed to promote social and emotional skills, communication, language, literacy, numeracy, creativity, knowledge of the world and physical movement.
A celebratory launch of the scheme took place on Friday to mark its success.
Gill Heath, Staffordshire County Council’s cabinet member responsible for libraries, said: "It is great that the project is now up and running and already having a positive impact on young families in the area.
"The county council has already done a great deal of work to raise the number of children who are classed as school-ready in the area from 48 per cent to 70 per cent in three years, but clearly we want that figure to be even higher.
"Through the project we are able to work with communities to develop and strengthen a range of services for under-fives so that when they arrive at school they are ready for learning."
The activities were aimed to be low-cost or no-cost and the families were encouraged to try them out at home and bring their feedback to the next session. The feedback has been used to help create the activity boxes which can be used in the home by families or by organisations.
The boxes will be free to borrow from any Staffordshire library, and feature artwork by award-winning Staffordshire author and illustrator Steve Smallman.
Peter Knott, area director at Arts Council England, said: "By creating Ready Steady Library, a project for families with young children who may not otherwise use a library or the services it provides, Staffordshire County Council has brought the project to the heart of the local community and it is great to see the benefits that this has for children starting school."
The school-ready assessment is taken at the age of five, after a child has spent their first year in school. It looks at a wide range of social and practical skills a young pupil needs to prosper, including their ability to communicate, follow instructions, concentrate, co-operate with other children, feed themselves and be able to visit the bathroom unaided.
