Supporting early literacy in Lambeth.
We are delivering Making it REAL as well as Sharing REAL with Parents as part of LEAP, the Lambeth Early Action Partnership.
Set up in 2015, Lambeth Early Action Partnership (LEAP) is made up of parents, early years practitioners, nurseries, children’s centres, the National Children’s Bureau, Lambeth Council, NHS trusts, community organisations and several local charities.
Our work falls under the Communication and Language Development strand, but cuts across all of LEAP’s target areas.
Making it REAL
Our LEAP offer includes a practical support package, for instance, where there is a concern with a child's speech or they have limited interest in early literacy activities (i.e. looking at books, singing rhymes, early mark making) and parents are unsure of how they can support their children.
Making it REAL training also introduces the principle of 'ORIM', that there are four main ways in which parents can help their children's literacy development through:
- providing opportunities for literacy;
- recognising children's achievements;
- interacting; and
- modelling literacy use.
Sharing REAL with Parents
Sharing REAL with Parents aims to build parents’ confidence in how they can support literacy within the home and help their children’s learning and development in communication and language. The aim is to help parents feel confident and knowledgeable about what steps to take.
Through discussions and practical activities, parents will gain ideas about how to support young children with books, early writing, songs and rhymes and how to make use of all the print around them in their home, in the street, and in the shops.
Supporting babies’ next steps
Through adapting Sharing REAL with Parents for new parents and parents of babies, we have been able to help parents learn ways to support their babies’ communication and language development, personal, social and emotional development and physical development through the use of: daily routines, books, music, songs & rhymes and early mark making.