Damian Hinds, Education Secretary, has announced new support to help parents improve their children’s early language and literacy skills at home before they start school (external link).
There will be two schemes that will aim to build the confidence of parents to support their children in language and reading at an early stage. The aim is to help close the so-called ‘word gap’ – the gap in communication skills between disadvantaged children and their peers when they start school.
One scheme run by the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) will see £5 million spent on trialling projects with the aim of providing practical tools and advice to parents so they can help their children learn new words through simple steps like reading and singing nursery rhymes. EEF will run trial projects in the north of England. The projects will look at what works best in improving children’s communication skills at home before they begin school.
The second scheme will be an £8.5 million programme for local authorities to fund projects to improve early language and literacy development for disadvantaged children.
Education Secretary Damian Hinds said, “This new support will help parents with early language learning at home by giving them practical advice on activities like reading and learning the alphabet which are so important in making sure no child is left behind.”