Communication and Language development involves giving children opportunities to experience a rich language environment; to develop their confidence and skills expressing themselves; and to speak and listen in a range of situations.

The area of Communication and Language is split into two aspects:

- Listening, Attention and Understanding

- Speaking

with the following Early Learning Goals:

• Listen attentively and respond to what they hear with relevant questions, comments and actions when being read to and during whole class discussions and small group interactions.
• Make comments about what they have heard and ask questions to clarify their understanding.
• Hold conversation when engaged in back-and-forth exchanges with their teacher and peers.
• Participate in small group, class and one-to-one discussions, offering their own ideas, using recently introduced vocabulary.
• Offer explanations for why things might happen, making use of recently introduced vocabulary from stories, non-fiction, rhymes and poems when appropriate.
• Express their ideas and feelings about their experiences using full sentences, including use of past, present and future tenses and making use of conjunctions, with modelling and support from their teacher.

It is essential that the right environment is created to ensure the pupils use and listen to appropriate language. Children learn about words, sentence structure and use of language through relaxed one to one interaction with friendly, familiar adults. In the early stages nearly all curriculum areas are covered orally.

We create a wealth of opportunity for pupils to talk to and listen to each other through, for example role play, circle time, simple drama. Staff help children to develop and feel confident in their communication skills by listening to them and showing a genuine interest in both their verbal and non-verbal interactions.

Children have the opportunity to extend their communication skills by speaking and listening to visitors, interacting with older children in the school, in assembly or by taking messages to other people within the school.