Communications & Language Development
Intent
The development of children’s spoken language underpins all seven areas of learning and development. Children’s back-and-forth interactions from an early age form the foundations for language and cognitive development. Communication and Language Development is categorized in two main areas of learning;
- Listening, Attention and Understanding
- Speaking
Knowledge and Key Skills Progression Grids:
Implementation
At Lumley Infant and Nursery School we acknowledge the number and quality of conversations children have with adults and peers throughout the day is crucial and staff ensure environments are language rich. Adults within our Early Year Foundation Stage place an emphasis on commenting on what children are interested in or doing. Staff echo back what children say, with new vocabulary added, therefore building upon children’s language effectively.
Reading is a high priority in school. Our early years environments provide high quality opportunities for children to explore a range of texts and children are often engaged, actively, in stories, non-fiction, poetry and rhymes. Staff read frequently to children, and timetables ensure there is dedicated story time to share and discuss whole texts and to explore new vocabulary.
Children have extensive opportunities to use and embed new words in a range of contexts. Through conversation, story-telling and role play, children share their ideas. Adults effectively model these skills and question children to encourage them to elaborate and to draw out vocabulary.
Impact
Children in our early years thrive, they leave Reception, being comfortable using a rich range of vocabulary and language structures. By the end of Reception most children:
Listening, Attention and Understanding
- Listen attentively and respond to what they hear with relevant questions, comments and actions when being read to and during whole class discussions and small group interactions.
- Make comments about what they have heard and ask questions to clarify their understanding.
- Hold conversation when engaged in back-and-forth exchanges with their teacher and peers.
Speaking:
- Participate in small group, class and one-to-one discussions, offering their own ideas, using recently introduced vocabulary.
- Offer explanations for why things might happen, making use of recently introduced vocabulary from stories, non-fiction, rhymes and poems when appropriate.
- Express their ideas and feelings about their experiences using full sentences, including use of past, present and future tenses and making use of conjunctions, with modelling and support from their teacher.
