A catch-up programme for four- and five-year-olds is to be funded for an extra year, the Department for Education has announced today.
The rollout of the Nuffield Early Language Intervention (NELI) programme, the government’s £17 million early years language catch-up scheme for Reception children, was funded by the department to help pupils impacted by the pandemic catch up on speech, language and communication skills.
The NELI programme has been offered to state-funded primary schools for the last three academic years, since 2020-21.
The scheme is a 20-week intervention that is usually delivered by a specially trained teaching assistant.
The government said last year that 62,000 four- and five-year-olds had access to the first wave of the programme, offered from January 2021, after around 40 per cent (6,600) of primary schools signed up.
In March 2022, the government revealed that 90,000 pupils from 11,000 primary schools across England - around two-thirds of the total number of primaries - had signed up to the programme.
An evaluation of the first two years of the rollout, published by the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) earlier this year, found that most staff who delivered NELI felt it was “beneficial for pupils’ development”.
However many schools did not complete the programme, telling the EEF survey that its delivery was hampered by “disruption related to Covid-19” and a “lack of capacity”.
Children’s minister Claire Coutinho said: “Giving children the strongest possible start to their education is so important. That’s why we introduced the NELI programme in 2020, to support children in Reception who need that bit of extra help with their language skills.
“90,000 children across two-thirds of primary schools are currently benefiting from the programme, which is proven to help children make around three months of additional progress with their speech and language.
“I want to continue building on this success, which is why I’m pleased to announce that we will be extending the NELI programme for another academic year.
“I hope that this means many more children will be able to get the support they need to build strong foundations in speaking and reading.”
Josh Hillman, director of education at the Nuffield Foundation, said: “I am delighted that the DfE will be continuing to support a programme with such strong evidence of effectiveness in improving the language skills of pupils in their first year of primary school.
“Children starting school in September were toddlers during the various pandemic lockdowns, and at a critical stage of language development, so the need for NELI is greater than ever.”
