Speech, language and communication in the Early Years
In line with the Department for Education's paper on social mobility, we understand the need to retain our focus on supporting children's speech, language and communication development to help close the word gap, ensuring all children are able to experience a language rich early environment.
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Teaching children to be literate is about more than learning to read. In our Early Years we are:
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Staff in our early years have extensive experience and training which allows us to help improve outcomes in language and communication for children.
'time to talk' is Warwickshire's evidence-based, strategic approach which supports the development of excellent early communication skills. The vision is that every child should have the best available opportunities to achieve their potential in speech, language and communication.
‘time to talk’ supports children’s communication and language and their personal, social and emotional development; two of the three identified prime areas of development.
Evidence shows that settings which implement ‘time to talk' achieve a significant improvement in children’s speech, language and communication skills. As a 'time to talk' setting with 'enhanced' certification, we aim to:
- Raise awareness of the importance of communication as the foundation for all learning.
- Be conscious of how we are communicating with our children, particularly being face to face, making eye contact and reducing questioning.
- Identify when a child needs additional support and at what level through observation and screening.
- Support their ongoing development, including by creating communication-friendly environments (considering the means, reasons and opportunities we offer for children to communicate).
There is a wide range of resources available at www.timetotalkwarwickshire.wordpress.com, including information about ditching the dummy.
