Stoke Speaks Out has launched a new key message this month! The 'key messages' are top tips to help to support the development of strong attachment relationships and good communication skills in children. They are for parents, carers and anyone working with young children. We asked our local speech and language therapists to come up with one of the most helpful tips they give out frequently to families, and choice making came out on top. The latest key message, 'Choices are C

Congratulations to the Early Years Foundation Stage at Stoke Minster Primary Academy on achieving Stoke Speaks Out's Level 4 'Communication Friendly Setting' status! The accreditation is awarded to settings and schools who can demonstrate high standards in supporting children’s attachment and communication development. The Early Years team worked hard gathering evidence towards the award while continuing to implement best practice during what has been a challenging year. Then

Congratulations to Debbie Goodwin, Kim Mangan, Lea O’Grady and Ellice Robertson for successfully completing the Stoke Speaks Out Level 5 Enhanced Communication Practitioner Award. The Level 5 Award is a large, in depth piece of work which usually takes 8-12 months to complete and involves self study to gather written evidence towards eight modules, followed by an interview. The work covers attachment, communication development and how to support children with speech, language

The impact of lockdown on children’s speech and language skills has been the subject of much media coverage over the past few days. The initial report highlighted growing evidence of an increased number of four- and five-year-olds needing help with their language skills. The research suggests that young children have had fewer opportunities for developing language and social skills due to lockdown. The Royal Collage of Speech and Language Therapists (RCSLT) secured an intervi

Families in Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent can sign up for free emails with tips on: how to chat, read and play with your baby as they grow support, activities and events near where you live reminders about health appointments As your baby grows, you’ll unlock vouchers for fun things like a free book, or a free pass to a local activity or event. All the little things you do with your child – like everyday conversations, make-believe play and reading together – make a big di

On Tuesday morning Janet Cooper, Speech & Language Therapist at Stoke Speaks Out, chatted to Zoe Ball on her Radio 2 Breakfast Show. Their conversation covered the crucial role parents have to play in their baby's early development and simple ways parents can help their child to learn to talk. Janet also talked about some exciting details from BBC Tiny Happy People's brand new campaign. The 'Tiny Happy Families' team are looking for people with babies expected in January 2021

Stoke Speaks Out launched a new and improved website on 1st September. The update has been enabled by resources developed as part of the Stoke-on-Trent Opportunity Area initiative Speech & Language project ‘Closing the Word Gap’. The new site is full of tips, advice and activities to support speech, language & communication development for children under five. Resources for both parents, carers and professionals working with young children are easy to find with the improved l

Stoke Speaks Out are proud to be recognised for their response to the Covid-19 situation by the AHA Esteem awards. They have been recognised for adapting their Opportunity Area Projects to enable schools, settings and families to access support digitally rather than face to face and have ensured continued access to high quality resources in a time of crisis..

Congratulations to Gladstone Primary Academy and Tiny Toez @ Westfield for recently completing their Stoke Speaks Out Level 4 Communication Friendly setting awards.

20 amazing BookBenches have popped up across Stoke-on-Trent! The BookBenches will be at host venues across Stoke-On-Trent until the end of June to encourage reading and provide a place for rest. You can pick up a copy of the book bench trail at any Stoke-on-Trent library or any venue taking part in the project. You can view photos of all the amazing book benches here as created by The Discovery Academy, Thistley Hough Academy, St Mark's CE Primary Academy, Hillside Primary,

Easter is nearly here and we would like you to help the children of Stoke-on-Trent to give their dummies to the Easter Bunny. We would like you to launch a campaign in your schools and nurseries to encourage children to become dummy-free. There will be a prize for the setting with the most innovative ideas to encourage parents to give up their child’s dummy. The winner will be chosen based on: 1. The number of dummies donated. 2. The number of conversations held with parents

In 2018, people across Stoke-on-Trent were invited to submit their favourite family recipes to the Stoke Family Cookbook – and the finished book is now available for Stoke residents to pick up for free. The cookbook was created as part of the Stoke Reads campaign, which is led by Stoke Reads and Stoke-on-Trent City Council, in partnership with the City Learning Trust. Recipes were shared by members of the public and pupils from schools throughout Stoke-on-Trent. Schools with

Radio 4 presenter Kim Normanton has been looking at schemes across the country which are helping to boost the language skills of young children. Stoke Speaks Out was highlighted as one of those schemes looking at how we talk to very young children and babies right from the start. You can listen to the article 'Why can't our children talk?' on BBC iPlayer here.

The Speech and Language Therapy Services are offering an exciting training opportunity to local schools. Talk Boost KS2 is a targeted intervention for children in Years 3, 4 and 5 who have delayed language development, aiming to boost their language skills to help them to catch up with their peers. The full day training is heavily discounted at £75 per person with the ICAN intervention pack available at an additional cost of £480. This equates to only £20 per child over tw

The National Literacy Trust are bringing BookBench sculptures to Stoke-on-Trent in spring 2019 to celebrate the city’s love of reading. The BookBenches will be decorated by schools and community groups across the city with designs inspired by books and reading. Once the benches are completed, they will be installed at cultural and leisure venues across the city as part of a BookBench trail. Schools will need to buy a BookBench to take part in the project, which most will

Are you wondering why colourful rocks are being left in parks or hidden on paths near you? Rock painting has become popular with adults and children painting stones with a design and leaving them to be found by others in places such as parks or tourist spots. Finders can either keep the rock or move them to somewhere else and share their finds on social media. What do I need? All you need is a few rocks, paints or permanent pens and a bit of imagination! Paint your designs wi

Stoke Speaks Out has released a handy video guide on the best way to read with your child. The video gives useful tips of the best way to share books and stories with your child. Watch it here.

Congratulations to Vicky Matthews (Carmountside Primary Academy), Nicola Rossen and Shirley Ottaway (Communication Champions), Dawn Bailey (SEND services), Julie Parker – Bowen (Star Academy), Rachel Burt and Helen Von Olhen (Thomas Boughey Kindergarten) who have all successfully completed the Stoke Speaks Out Level 5, Enhanced Communication Practitioner Award. They have all completed a competencies framework file followed by an interview. This piece of work takes around 8 -

The Stoke Speaks Out team has won another prestigious award at the Advancing Healthcare Awards 2018. This award was for Contributions to Public Health, with the ceremony hosted by the Faculty of Public Health (FPH) and Public Health England (PHE). The award panel felt that "The impact of this project is lifelong and can benefit the whole community. It was well structured and the team had lots of passion." ‘Stoke Speaks Out’ is a city-wide, multi-agency approach ensuring child

The Stoke Speaks Out team won not one but two awards last week at the 2018 Shine a Light awards held in London. We are the proud winners of the Outstanding Achievement Award and the award for Speech, Language and Communication Needs Innovation of the Year. This short clip highlights the amazing work by the team that we are so lucky to have here in Stoke-on-Trent. Well done to everyone involved 👏👏