Oakwood Infant and Nursery School are accredited by Elklan as a 'Communication Friendly Early Years Setting'

At Oakwood Nursery, we know that the development of children’s spoken language underpins all seven areas of learning and development. Children’s back-and-forth interactions from an early age form the foundations for language and cognitive development.

The number and quality of the conversations that children have with adults and peers throughout the day in a language-rich environment is crucial. In Nursery, practitioners will build on children's language by listening carefully to them and making skilled comments focused on what the children are doing or are interested in. Adults model language and extend children's communication by adding new vocabulary.

We focus on reading frequently to the children in Nursery to develop a love of literature and language..  Our core stories and rhymes are the heart of our curriculum.  We ensure that we engage children actively in stories, non-fiction books, rhymes and poems and then provide extensive opportunities to use and embed new words in a range of contexts and experiences including conversation, role play and storytelling.

Communication and Language is an important driver in our curriculum. Early Years staff have undertaken comprehensive training to further their understanding of the importance of the development of communication skills in young children. They have acquired an excellent knowledge of how and when to interact effectively with children to allow for the acquisition of contextual vocabulary and its development and use. We ensure that all children are given every opportunity to develop their speech, communication and language skills within the setting.