Talking Together in Cambridgeshire

In some areas of Cambridgeshire, children are not progressing as well at school as in other parts of the county. We know that at least part of the reason for this is that children’s early communication, language and literacy development isn’t at the expected level.

Statistics gathered before the pandemic showed that our proportion of disadvantaged children achieving national standards at the end of Reception is lower than our closest comparable authorities and well below the national average.

We are aware that ‘It takes a village to raise a child’ and therefore we are always looking for ways to work with others to improve this situation. We recognise the importance of other services and organisations in meeting this challenge, as well as the key role that families and the wider community play.

Talking Together in Cambridgeshire delivers low-cost or funded training courses which are aimed at family-facing Talking Together in Cambridgeshire-funded project workers. We also offer low-cost or funded courses for other members of the early years workforce including childminders, setting practitioners, Child and Family Centre staff, and library staff who support families of children aged nought to five across Cambridgeshire.

Details of the courses we offer and how to book a place can be found in the Communication, Language and Literacy section of the Professional Development Programme.

We regularly meet with individuals and organisations from our communities who are known to us to help us better understand the needs across our reach area. We are also keen to make new links, so please do get in touch with us if you would like to talk about how we might be able to work together or if you would like to know more about our work.

Grant funding information is available for early years providers and community-based groups, and if their application is successful they are awarded funds to run activities which help parents learn more about how to support young children’s communication, language, and literacy development.

We also offer training on communication, language, and literacy development to early years providers and funded community groups supporting children aged nought to five across Cambridgeshire.

In March 2022, we ran our first Festival of Stories which was a great success. We intend to run the festival on an annual basis so if you are interested in getting involved with the next one, please do get in contact.

Our Facebook page offers information on communication, language and literacy development, and fun activities that can be used by parents and practitioners to support the needs of children aged nought to five.

Why not take a look at our resources focussing on communication, language and literacy development or our storytelling Festival of Stories resources page?

We also produce a newsletter on a four to six-weekly basis. If you would like to be added to our email distribution list then please email community.literacy@cambridgeshire.gov.uk.