Government funding has been secured for speech and language therapists after a charity pilot showed that the number of children achieving age-appropriate language levels increased from under 50% to 90% in two academic years.

Every Child Our Future launched a pilot to place experienced speech and language therapists directly into five nursery and early years classrooms to work alongside teachers.

The three-year initiative was funded by a multi-year grant of £150,000 from the Jersey Community Foundation.

The aim was to equip educators with tools to support communication and language development in schools before specialist referrals are needed.

In one setting, the number of children achieving age-appropriate language levels rose from under 50% to 90% in just two academic years.

As a result, the charity has been able to secure funding from the Government of Jersey to scale the model across the island.

Education Minister Rob Ward explained:  “Continued and sustained investment by the Government of Jersey will allow this model to evolve and embed, ensuring every child – regardless of their language profile and start in life – has the support they need to thrive.”

This project gave us the chance to prove what’s possible and now expanding this model across early years settings will improve communication, language, and literacy outcomes for all children

Cris Lakeman, CEO of Every Child Our Future

Every Child Our Future CEO Cris Lakeman, who is a former headteacher, said: “We’ve shown that most children’s educational needs can be met through great teaching and early support – but only if staff are equipped and confident.

“This project gave us the chance to prove what’s possible and now expanding this model across early years settings will improve communication, language, and literacy outcomes for all children.”

Jersey Community Foundation CEO Anna Terry added: “This pilot shows what can happen when charities, government and educators come together to try something new.

“We’re incredibly proud to have supported this work and to see it now growing into something even bigger.

“The ability to provide seed-funding to help charities test ideas before rolling them out at scale is just one of the many ways we can work with donors to address grass-roots issues in the community and make real change.”