No intervention will ever be a silver bullet in education but every now and then, something seems to come close. 

That’s what the feedback suggests is happening with a new initiative targeting speech, language and communication, which is being rolled out in the city of York.

Early talk for York (ETFY) is aimed at developing the speech and language skills of the city’s youngest learners - and initial data shows it is having a significant effect on outcomes, helping to close the disadvantage gap in the process. 

In 2018, before the initiative was first rolled out, the gap in outcomes between non-disadvantaged children at the age of 5 nationally, and disadvantaged children in the ETFY area, was 34.5 per cent (as measured against the early years foundation stage, or EYFS, profile).

By 2022, that gap had narrowed to just 2.5 per cent. 

That’s a huge movement in the right direction, and leaders of schools taking part in ETFY are chalking it up to their involvement in the scheme.

So how does the intervention work?

ETFY is a collaboration between the City of York council, the York Schools and Academies Board, York hospital and education providers.

It targets children aged 0 to 5 years, on the understanding that having good communication skills at an early age is linked with a range of positive outcomes in later life, including better reading and writing skills, higher rates of employment, and better mental and physical health and wellbeing.

Rob Newton, social mobility project manager at the council and associate strategic director at Huntington Research School, leads the initiative. He explains it has three aims: to unite the EYFS sector in driving effective change around communication and language outcomes, to offer staff high-quality training and access to assessment tools, and to deliver ongoing support to parents and carers. 

After an initial pilot in 2019 with 15 settings, ETFY is now available to every setting and school in York, which can choose from three different levels of involvement (see box, below). 

Hob Moor Primary Academy in York was involved in the trial, and in 2020-21, it rolled the programme out in full. Last year, for the first time ever, the school’s good level of development (GLD) results were above the national average. 

Ryan Unwin, foundation stage lead at Hob Moor, says the school’s involvement has been transformational, with teachers’ knowledge and confidence in supporting pupils with speech and language difficulties having developed immensely. 

“Some children still need specialist external support from a speech and language therapist, for which the wait is long. But we are now equipped to support them as soon as they arrive, which means they aren’t held back from accessing the rest of the curriculum,” he says. 

Identification of children with speech and language needs is happening earlier, and teachers have noticed a marked improvement in the speech and language skills of children entering Year 1, he adds. This has had a positive effect on literacy outcomes.

“Speech affects phonics more than anything and, for struggling children, the strategies we’ve put in place have meant that their reading and writing can progress well,” Unwin says.

Analysis from the pilot shows that other schools are seeing similar results.

There are, however, challenges to involvement, says Unwin: high staff turnover means training has had to be delivered multiple times and there is a cost involved. 

The project is mostly funded by the York Schools and Academies Board, and the City of York Council, and while settings get access to the toolkit, training and external services included, EYFS settings are asked to contribute £200 a year and schools £400 a year.

“We’re happy to pay that fee because, for us, the impact on children’s attainment is the best we’ve ever had,” says Unwin. 

Other schools in the area are reaching the same conclusion. So far, a total of 29 schools are involved across the city and there are plans to scale the project up to include another 30 in 2023.

So, as research shows that increasing numbers of children in the UK are struggling with speech and language, what can schools around the country learn from York’s success?

Newton highlights six “active ingredients” that he believes have helped to make the intervention work as well as it has. 

“There needs to be a relentless focus on speech, language and communication as a top priority, and investment in high-quality training that is sustained and quality assured, and is cascaded down into whole teams,” he says.

“Schools need to be doing universal screening of children’s needs using a standardised tool, ​have ongoing support of specialists who are proactive in responding to emerging needs, and engage in peer and social support and accountability on all of this, including working in partnership with families.”

Unwin agrees that settings should invest in a screening tool. “The screening process often flags children who otherwise would have flown under the radar because they come across as so confident. It’s been a real eye-opener to identify those children who need support straightaway,” he says. 

He also encourages staff to undertake accredited training despite the workload it adds. The level 3 training took a year, and he had to complete coursework and assignments. However, he was then qualified to deliver the training to other staff. 

“I was happy to do it because I knew it was going to have an impact. We had such low levels of speech, language and communication, and it was really affecting the rest of the curriculum. Something needed to change,” he says.

The increased engagement with parents is a key part of the programme’s success, he adds, and small changes can make a huge impact here. 

For example, Hob Moor introduced “Busy Books”, a weekly 15-minute drop-in session for parents at the end of the day, in which staff talk to parents about the learning journeys and encourage parents to complete some of the same activities that their children have completed that week. 

Unwin also urges schools to reach out to the family learning services offered by local authorities. For example, a member of staff from York Learning comes in every Tuesday afternoon to deliver workshops for families. Parents complete questionnaires to highlight what they’d like more information and support on, and sessions are tailored to these needs. These are increasingly popular, he says. 

There may be no silver bullet to tackling the disadvantage gap. But if York’s success is anything to go by, a clear focus on speech and language - realised through increased screening, teacher training and engagement with parents - seems like a good place to start.