‘Reading and writing float on a sea of talk’.

James Britton

Research has found:

• 75% of a child’s brain growth has occurred by the age of 2.
• By 22 months a child’s development can predict outcomes at the age of 26.
• 50-90% of children with persistent speech, language and communication needs go on to have reading difficulties.
• 66% of 7-14 year olds with serious behavioural problems have language impairment.
• 60% of people in young offender’s institutions have communication difficulties.

Spoken language: speaking, listening & responding 

These skills are at the core of our curriculum and pupils are encouraged to listen and learn from sharing ideas with others. Talk partners are used extensively throughout the school, together with a range of planned learning opportunities that encourage pupils to explore language e.g. role play, drama activities, group discussion, hot seating.

Our pupils need lots of opportunities to speak and listen. This is especially true of pupils with special educational needs (SEND) and/or pupils with English as an additional language (EAL). Within every day teaching, we use a range of resources to support communication e.g. visuals made with Communication in Print, word banks, sentence stems, speaking frames. Some pupils take part in small group activities (Talk Boost) and some pupils receive additional support e.g. speech and language assistant or therapist.