The importance of the home learning environment in supporting communication and language Gamesley Early Excellence Centre Derbyshire Janet Ackers – Head of Centre

How we have evolved Prior to 2006 Purpose built Centre in 1973 in middle of a ‘new build’ estate (Manchester ‘overspill’) Combined Centre Social Services and Education (Nursery School) Library, Clinic, Church – community building Family Support, Community and Adult Education Early Excellence Centre (1999) Post 2006 to present Creation of the GEEC Childcare Community Interest Company – for Children’s Centre designation (April 2006) Including under 3’s care, wrap around care for 3 – 5 year olds, out of school care for 4 – 11 year olds Fully integrated care and education for children birth to five Out of school / holiday club for 4 – 11 year olds Adult / community education on site Links with Gamesley Children’s Centre

Nursery School and Day Care company working together 60 place maintained nursery school – the ‘over 3’s’ (term time only) 16 daycare places in the ‘over 3’s’ (51 weeks, 7.30am to 6.00pm) 15 places in ‘baby room’ (51 weeks, 7.30am to 6.00pm) 20 places in ‘toddler room’ (51 weeks, 7.30am to 6.00pm except for most 2 year funded children who are term time only) 40 places in before/after school and holiday club for children aged 4 to 11 (51 weeks, 7.30am to 6.00pm)

‘To be the best we can be’ Our vision for the Centre is “to be the best we can be”. This is embedded in all we do and is the ethos of everyone who works at the Centre. We aim to be a reflective, progressive and inclusive setting, providing high quality integrated care and education and supporting the needs of our children and families so that children reach their full potential.

We work closely with parents, carers and the community to ensure our children are happy and confident to achieve, engage and persist and that our environment and the experiences we provide are fun, stimulating and challenging and promote independence, communication, exploration, enquiry and creativity. We treat all children as unique individuals, they have their own key person and staff keep subsequent family members over the years so that families have confidence in the workers’ ability and strong relationships are built.

Our children make outstanding progress whilst they are with us at the centre, many from a starting point which is below age related expectations. We view progress as children achieving something new, that they haven’t been able to do before. It is about: having a sense of pride, persevering, engaging, making changes, taking risks, challenging self, moving on – however small the steps and having the confidence and self esteem to do all of this. It is not just about making progress in an academic sense. We share all of this with parents.

We follow the EYFS framework closely and have devised our own planning and assessment documents based on the EYFS which inform the implementation of the curriculum. We have devised assessment wheels for each age group (birth to 24 months, 18 to 36 months and 3 to 4+ years) and we translate a child's achievements onto the wheels. We also keep a progress and achievement record of observations and children’s documented learning/development, all of which are shared with parents and inform our individual and group planning.

Targeted interventions parents are involved with Every Child a Talker (ECAT) – Communication and Language Every Child A Mover – Physical Development The Leuven Scales of Well-being and Involvement – Personal, Social and Emotional development

What is the home learning environment and early home learning? The kind of relationships and opportunities that children experience where they live Everything that children do or experience at home that influences their learning, development and later achievement Roberts (2009) Early Home Learning Matters

The home learning environment messages from research “We need to begin with the firm belief that all parents are interested in the development and progress of their own children” (Penn Green Centre) But they sometimes need support to help their children. (Parents as Partners in Early Learning Project 2008)

Parenting behaviour influences children’s development from the moment of birth The link between disadvantage and achievement is evident from an early age The mother’s level of education has a marked effect on parental involvement in early learning and child development Where mothers provided more stimulation in the home child development was higher regardless of the 2 factors above (Gutman and Feinstein 2007; Feinstein 2003)

Fathers have an important role too Children whose fathers are involved in their learning do better at school and have better mental health, even after socio economic status and education have been taken out of the equation Fathers’ lack of interest in schooling is a strong predictor of lack of qualifications (Flouri and Buchanan, 2001, Hobcraft, 1998)

The influence of the home is ‘enduring, pervasive and direct’ What parents do at home has a significant positive effect on children’s achievements even after all other factors have been taken out of the equation Children not only gain skills at home, but also absorb a positive attitude to and enthusiasm for learning (Desforges 2003)

It is possible to engage vulnerable parents and improve the HLE Parental involvement in early learning was linked to positive changes in parenting, including spending more time with their children and demonstrating more emotional warmth, and positive changes in children’s attachment, behaviour and development (Evangelou et al 2008)

Practitioners are important too There is significant scope to improve staff awareness of the importance of engaging with parents about early home learning. Confident staff are more likely to readily engage with parents on a day to day basis by welcoming them into settings and explaining face to face what parents can do at home. (Hunt et al ‘Provider influence on the EHLE’ 2011)

So what skills do practitioners need? Have the ability to: identify children at risk of learning delay listen to and build supportive relationships with parents – a partnership understand why the HLE is so important engage and work with a wide range of parents

Understand parents’ starting points and respond appropriately Support parents to develop the confidence, knowledge and skills to help their children Identify any difficulties early and when / how to involve other services / agencies Work effectively in multi-agency teams

Tasks involved in engaging parents in their children’s learning Getting to know the community and families (who are the most vulnerable) Outreach to engage families Formal and informal consultations Having high aspirations for children and articulating this to parents

Tailoring support to the needs of individual families Building authentic and supportive relationships with parents Understanding the wider family environment of the child Supporting parents to acquire the knowledge, confidence and skills to provide the quality of relationships and learning experiences their children need

Kelly and Caitlin’s story

‘Giraffe Club’ 6 weekly sessions for parents led by a family learning tutor with a focus on language and literacy experiences in the home.

Collette, Paul, Brandon Lee and Lily Rose

Brandon Lee’s home school book

What else do we do?

Home / nursery links activities Activity sheets and associated resources for parents to take and carry out at home with their child.

Book library Books for parents to choose with their child and to take home to share

Toy Library A weekly run toy library led by 2 practitioners and a parent volunteer supporting children to choose a toy to take home for the week with ideas for parents on playing with their child.

‘WOW’ boards Parents encouraged to write about significant events / milestones met at home. These are built into nursery planning and indicated as PI on the planning sheets.

Home / nursery communication books Daily communication books / sheets about the nursery day. Parents encouraged to write in these too.

Family photo books

Personal passports

Using the ‘wow’ moments etc in our planning

Events /activities we involve parents and carers in Grandparents day Bring dad to nursery day Bring mum to nursery day Fantasy Day Charity days Trips / visits

…….and the impact? Confident assertive children who are eager to learn Children and families who stay with us from being a baby until the end of Primary School Data demonstrates children make outstanding progress