Could NELI improve oracy development in your primary schools?

Oracy touches every part of a child’s school life. It is at the heart of literacy and learning to read and is the thread that runs through a child’s social, emotional well-being and academic success.

 

With 20.5% of children starting school without the speech and language skills expected for their age, oral language is increasingly recognised as one of the most important foundations we can give children, to set them up for success through school and support early identification of early language delays and SEND issues.

 

With this national focus on oracy, we wanted to remind you that the Nuffield Early Language Intervention (NELI) programme remains fully funded for all state-funded schools in your area.

 

NELI runs over 20 weeks, using targeted small group and individual sessions to build children’s vocabulary, listening and storytelling skills. It has the strongest evidence base of any oral language programme and has shown that:

• Children who receive NELI make 4 months of additional progress on average, in oral language skills. This increases to 7 months for children on free school meals.
• Benefits are long-lasting, with improvements in language, single word reading and reading comprehension seen two years after receiving the intervention.
• Every child benefits, including pupils with English as an Additional Language

 

The good news is that funding has been confirmed until the 2028/29 academic year (subject to further spending reviews), giving you the confidence to plan ahead and embed NELI into your longer-term school improvement plans.

 

For further information and how to register visit https://www.teachneli.org/