Karen Kilkenny, Head of Chapter House Prep at Queen Ethelburga’s, explains the importance of speech and language support in early education
The area of speech and language is at the forefront of many of our parents’ and prospective parents’ minds. With current NHS waiting lists for a Speech and Language Therapist (SLT) up to 24 months, and with over 64,000 on the waiting list, intervention isn’t coming as quickly as needed in many areas.
Aware of the rising need for speech and language support in schools, QE appointed its own Speech and Language Therapist. Being on site means she can work face-to-face with our children in both one-to-one and small-group sessions. She has been gladly welcomed by our parents and works seamlessly with our specialist Learning Development Coordinator.
For us, it was an easy decision to add a SaLT to our Learning Development (SEND) team because we want our pupils and prospective pupils to be offered the support they require as soon as the need is identified, so that any potential impact to their confidence, social interactions or ability to perform well at school is minimised.
Describing her first year working with Chapter House, Sarah Semple said: “It is so lovely to be working in a role where I can identify needs early and see support throughout a child’s education at QE. Being in school means I can work closely with teachers and parents – and those relationships are so important for children to meet their full potential”.
This additional assistance with speech and language sits within a framework of supporting every child’s needs. When a child joins Chapter House, they are assessed and if they are identified as having a specific learning need, we create an Individual Learning Plan (ILP) for them to tailor the support they receive. This support encompasses individual lessons or small group booster sessions, by learning support specialists, and also adaptive teaching within the classroom. Gifted and Talented children are identified and challenged through accelerated learning clubs or talent-focused enrichment clubs.
Chapter House is a family-feel school that aims to keep its class sizes small so that children have much more teacher contact time than if they were in larger classes. We also pride ourselves on parent communication through a mixture of parent meetings, visits to classrooms and reports throughout the term. All of this is in addition to daily updates on Tapestry for the EYFS children.
Sitting within the 220-acre campus of Queen Ethelburga’s College, Chapter House supports children all the way through these important early years, welcoming children aged from three months to Year 5. With plenty of space to roam, children can take on the role of explorers. They learn through imaginative play, outdoor learning and varied classroom lessons.
The ability to receive extra support with speech and language as part of an exciting and busy school day normalises an issue that many children may experience. It also removes the pressure from parents of waiting to get support. In providing expert SaLT support within QE, we help to ensure that children can make the very most of their school journey.
Queen Ethelburga’s Chapter House Prep qe.org
Further reading: The Grange School on growing young readers
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