Early Words Together is a National Literacy Trust family programme designed to support the development of children’s early communication, language and literacy by strengthening the home learning environment and shared parent-child engagement in early learning activities.
Between March 2023 and March 2025, the programme was delivered through Family Hubs across 11 Local Authorities in England to families with children aged 3 to 4. In total, 516 practitioners from 178 settings and a wide range of roles — including early years teachers, librarians, speech and language professionals, and nursery staff — were trained to deliver the programme, reaching over 1,550 families across England. This report presents key findings from the overall evaluation of the Early Words Together in Family Hubs model/deliveries.
Key findings
For parents and children:
- Around 3 in 4 parents said their children showed greater enjoyment of and participation in early literacy activities such as reading, singing and storytelling
- Around 7 in 10 parents reported greater confidence to engage in early learning activities as well as increased engagement in such activities with their child
- Via open comments, parents reported establishing new shared learning routines, better child vocabulary, attention and communication skills, as well as increased child social confidence
For practitioners and local support pathways
- After training, almost all practitioners (98%) felt confident delivering the programme and equipped to support parents to develop their child’s early language and more than 9 in 10 reported increased understanding of children’s language development and the importance of the home learning environment
- On top of the benefits for parents, children and practitioners, practitioners noted via open comments that the programme was successfully integrated into local provision pathways and supported collaborative practice between local practitioners, as well as their relationships with families
Overall, the evaluation findings highlight the value of Early Words Together as a family learning programme that can be adapted to the unique local contexts of Family Hubs and local families' needs.