Good language skills give children not just an educational advantage, but leave them socially and emotionally equipped for life as well; and promoting these skills depends on an effective environment as well as supportive adults and good resources.
Since its launch last year, many practitioners have been using the Communication-Friendly Spaces Toolkit for Practitioners, commissioned by the Basic Skills Agency (see box), to help assess how effective their learning environment is in supporting children's speaking and listening skills. Here we look at how three Nottinghamshire settings used it and the challenges, debates and changes that emerged.
Abacus Playgroup, Lady Bay, Nottingham
Angela Hodgkinson is supervisor and Eve Erentz an assistant at Abacus, which offers 20 part-time morning places to children aged two to five years old. Its premises - a Scout hut - are used by various community groups throughout the week, so playgroup staff have to set out and pack away all their resources every day (pictured on page 19).
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