This is one of the prime areas in early years and focusses on developing children's ability to express themselves and understand others, including the development of their listening and speaking skills.

Children communicate in a variety of ways and we aim for them to become confident to share their thoughts and ideas with both adults and peers. Children are encouraged to listen and communicate appropriately and are encouraged to ask questions and contribute to whole-class and group discussions whenever possible. We plan and enhance both the indoor and outdoor provision areas to reflect the various topics that we explore during the year to encourage children to communicate with others as they play. Enhancements include role-play, small-world and story-making opportunities. Throughout the year, the children are introduced to a range of fiction and non-fiction books, poems, songs and rhymes. By building their familiarity with these texts, it widens and supports further knowledge of vocabulary for the children to then use in their conversations and in their writing.

For those children who require further support for their speech sounds and use of language, we provide weekly interventions to target their specific needs.

Early Learning Goals

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.