Fears young children in Hartlepool are falling behind on speech and language skills

Councillors on Hartlepool Borough Council Children’s Services Committee questioned why some children are not school ready with their speech and language skills, and if early nursery care is in place to help improve this.

Concerns were also raised how Covid-19 could further impact the development of children’s literacy skills due to being out of schools and nurseries.

School teachers said signs from their nursery provision for two-year-olds and older in recent years shows it is providing beneficial extra support to children who need it.

Cllr Sue Little initially raised the issue as to children not being ‘school ready’ and if provision, such as nursery for two-year-olds, is in place is helping improve it.

She said: “What’s the reason why the children are not school ready with their speech and is it improving with us having more access for children who are two years plus?

“I know we’ve had a bad year with Covid, but speech and language should be picked up at about 18 months if a child’s got issues, 18 months to two years.

“I just think with the children being able to access nursery from two, it should be picked up earlier for those children who are entitled to two-year-old nursery places.”

Cllr Jim Lindridge added he wanted to know what type of provision would be put in place going forward, knowing demand is likely to increase due to Covid-19

He said: “The literacy demand I presume is going to increase since Covid and during Covid, because I presume a lot of the children are going to be spending time with mams and dads who may lack necessary skills to develop the youngsters at that age.”

Danielle Swainston, council assistant director for joint commissioning, said overall children not being ‘school ready’ can be for a mix of reasons, but added more work is needed collectively from all partners to improve the situation.

She also noted it is ‘difficult to know’ at this stage what the impact of Covid-19 will be, but added she expects they will see an increased demand for support, and more will be discovered in the coming terms.

David Turner, headteacher at Rift House Primary School, said they had been just about to start their third year of two-year-old nursery provision, adding he has seen the benefits for children and noted it is ‘one of the most positive things’ they do.

He said: “One of the main things is to develop those relationships early with families.

“Those children coming back to schools, because we know the families and we know the circumstances and we have that relationship, it really does help us support.

“The early identification of need as well has also helped us engage earlier in a child’s pathway with those external services, speech and language.

“The good thing is for me as a headteacher planning how we support the children for any type of return and obviously with remote learning, because we’ve got that early indication of need and what the children require, it means that it helps me think about capacity and resources to support that need much earlier.”

Jo Heaton, CEO of the Northern Lights Learning Trust and executive headteacher at Hart Primary School and St Peter’s Elwick, added it will not just be vulnerable children who will be impacted due to Covid-19.

She said: “That’s the case for all of our young people in Hartlepool, and we’ve got to collectively think about what we can do to make sure they are given the opportunity to get to where they would have been, had they not been unfortunately placed in the circumstances of the pandemic.”

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