This report evaluates the impact of the National Literacy Trust’s Early Words Together at Three programme in Leicester, which ran from September 2018 to December 2019.
Early Words Together at Three trains school and nursery staff to help parents of three-year-olds to support their child's development. This programme enables parents to understand the value of the home learning environment, and equips them with evidence-based strategies and activities they can do at home with their child.
It is an adaptation of our original programme, Early Words Together, and is designed for nursery practitioners working directly with families of three-year-olds. The programme ran in 15 primary school nurseries in Leicester and was funded by Leicester’s maintained primary schools through the Closing the Gap initiative.
An evaluation of the programme was undertaken by Chiara Cappellini, Evaluation Manager, Kirsty Cunnington, Early Years Programme Manager, and Rachel Duncan, Early Years Project Manager, at the National Literacy Trust.
The evaluation report key findings include:
- 78% of parents say they are more confident singing songs and sharing stories with their child after the programme
- 67% of parents say they read and share stories with their child more than before
- 78% of parents report that their child enjoys sharing books more than before
- 78% of parents report that they are more aware of why it is important for them to talk to their child
- 91% of practitioners encourage their parents to listen to their child following the programme (32% before)