Families Play, Talk, and Learn Together overview
The first five years of life are critical in shaping a child’s physical and mental health, their learning and development, so they are ready for school. It is crucial to nurture and support children’s development through the promotion of a high quality home-learning environment (HLE), through positive parent-child interactions.
The Family Hub and Start for Life offer aimed to enhance the early learning experiences between young children and their parents through simple, accessible, and low-cost activities to help their child’s language development and school readiness.
The Coventry Way
We know that when parents actively engage with their children—through talking, reading, playing, and responding to their needs—they help form strong brain connections that support learning, emotional regulation, and social development. We have prioritised the development of early language skills through a range of initiatives and campaigns.
The 50 Things to Do Before You’re 5 App and associated family learning activities have been successfully integrated into groups delivered within the Family Hubs, early years settings, school-based nurseries and across the Family Hub network. This supported families to play and interact together; along with the Easy Peasy app that was made available for all parents in early years. The Speech and Language Therapy Team (CWPT) and Coventry City Council’s Early Years Advisory Team collaborated to develop the Coventry Little Communicators Training Programme, which has strengthened connections with early years education providers and ensured a cohesive approach to workforce development opportunities.
Headlines of progress and impact
- 4,029 parents/carers have engaged with the 50 Things to do Before You're 5 multiplatform tool.
- 1,194 individuals have attended Family Learning workshops
- 1,488 unique downloads of the 50 things app have led to over 13,500 views.
- 3,492 parents accessed tailored sessions hosted by a range of partner agencies, including the Oral Health Team, Family Healthy Lifestyles Services, and Coventry Library Service.
- 165 early years settings and all Family Hubs' staff have attended tier 1 training.
As a result, there has been greater family involvement in children’s learning and increased parental confidence in supporting early development:
- 91% of parents/carers feel more confident in supporting their child's learning
- 89% report increased interaction with their child
- 89% play more with their child
- 76% read to their child more frequently
- 95% feel more confident in knowing how to help their child learn