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Leathersellers’ Review 2024–2025
Left: Home-Start volunteer with mum and baby
Organisations receiving the two-year grants have the added benefit of becoming part of a network of early years charities that can share expertise. The five grantees meet twice a year. Becca Jones, CEO of Home-Start Southwark, says she’s enjoyed getting to know other leaders from the charities. “We support each other and compare notes. It massively benefits the families we support too, because we know more about what other local projects are doing and can refer to them.” One of the other Early Years grantees Becca has connected with is the National Literacy Trust. Their First Words Together programme in Lewisham supports babies and toddlers under two with speech, language and communication. The programme involves training and peer support for early years practitioners, who then deliver a series of activities at their nursery. The National Literacy Trust also provides books and resources for parents and carers so that they can continue to support their children’s development at home. First Words Together has already run in Birmingham and Cornwall, and thanks to the Early Years grant, it’s being delivered in London for the first time. Holly Muldowney, Programme Manager of Early Years at the National Literacy Trust, says that First Words Together is addressing a gap in language and literacy provision. “There tends to be a heavy emphasis on children being prepared for school, which has led to this gap for the very early years,” she says. “Yet we know that the first 1001 days are the most significant time in child development. Even if your baby isn’t talking, it doesn’t mean that they’re not communicating or absorbing everything around them.” Working with speech and language therapists, the National Literacy Trust developed First Words Together to communicate the importance of everyday interactions to parents and caregivers. The programme supports practitioners to understand and share how engagement, activity and routines will have a positive impact on the youngest children.
and children to look at and listen to each other. There’s a related activity to try, such as playing peek-a-boo and helping their child to join in the game. Parents are asked to comment on the back of the postcard about how the activities have gone and share feedback with their nursery practitioner. Rochelle says that this feedback has helped her to build rapport with the parents and allowed them each to understand better where the child is with language and communication. Comments from parents on the resources have been extremely positive. One said, “Our son now asks to read stories every night. His ability to express feelings and speak clearly has improved significantly. This programme really helped us build a better reading habit with him.” Another stated that the picture books were really helpful and, also, the parent postcards, which helped them to bond with their child. Of the parents who completed a survey, 94% felt that they now know more about supporting their child’s early language and are more confident with engaging in activities to support it. The programme received equally positive feedback from nursery practitioners, with 100% of those who submitted a delivery log noticing benefits and changes in children’s communication skills from taking part in the programme. “I’ve seen a significant change with at least four out of five babies,” says Rochelle. “I was shocked when I heard them expressing themselves so confidently, singing along during our circle time, or trying to indicate something to me, even when they don’t know how to say it yet. People sometimes underestimate what children can learn and understand. But when you have that focused time, you see that the babies’ comprehension is incredible.”
Above: Early years practitioner reading to children as part of the National Literacy Trust’s First Words Together programme
Connecting parents and practitioners Rochelle Palmer is a nursery assistant in the baby room at the Base Zero nursery in Bellingham, one of the first nurseries in Lewisham to take part in First Words Together. “We’re with the babies when they’re first learning how to communicate, verbally and nonverbally,” says Rochelle. “On the training, we discussed what we can do to encourage babies to build their communication and to feel confident to express themselves, whether that’s through actions, facial expressions, trying to say words or just experimenting with sounds, like babbling.” First Words Together helps practitioners like Rochelle support parents to create a good ‘home learning environment’, where they can continue what happens at nursery. Rochelle says the ideas from the programme can easily be worked into a parent and child’s day-to-day routine, such as singing a song at bathtime or naming items together as they unpack shopping. “We know that parents are really busy,” says Rochelle. “When we give them tips, we look at things they’re already doing and how they can stretch those further. That’s where the free resources and books can help.” Each week, families are gifted a book that links with the First Words Together session. By the end of the programme, they have built mini libraries in their homes. Families also get a postcard with a talking tip, such as ‘Be face to face with your child’, as this helps parents
Reaching more families, earlier There are around 180 local, independent Home- Starts across the UK. The Leathersellers’ Foundation and Merchant Taylors’ Foundation’s Early Years Programme grant is supporting Home-Start Southwark to expand its work into Lewisham. All of Home-Start’s work is rooted in the belief that the earliest years make the biggest impact – the key driver behind the grant programme. “Our research shows that a child’s brain is 80% developed by the age of two,” says Jane Hindle, Education Manager at Merchant Taylors’ Foundation, ”which is why the programme focuses on families with nought to three-year- olds. We know that the skills and confidence developed in those years lay the foundations not only for formal education but for lifelong learning and well-being.” This partnership is the first time that The Leathersellers’ Foundation has focused on the early years. It’s part of a strategic shift to supporting organisations throughout the educational journey. “There’s a cumulative effect of disadvantage in educational achievement,” says Natalia Rymaszewska, the Foundation’s Head of Grants. “Focusing support on the early years can help to break a cycle of inter- generational disadvantage and be a driver of social mobility.”
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