Our Play and Learn activities are based on the Early Years Foundation Stage and Every Child Matters. Following discussions with our families, other professionals in the local area and national research (1 in 10 children have speech and language difficulties. Source: Hello), we have decided to focus on developing communication skills from pre-birth, babies through to school age.

Fun In The Pool
Over the coming months we are going to take part in national/local themed campaigns which will link into our activities and focus on communication. These include Every Child A Talker, Hello, Bookstart and ICAN.
2011 is the Year of Communication and Hello is a campaign to increase understanding of how important it is for children and young people to develop good communication skills.
Speech, language and communication underpins everything we do in life – communication is a skill that we learn and develop and is something we can all improve.
Hello aims to make communication for all children and young people a priority in homes and schools across the UK so that they can live life to the full.

Taking Aim
In addition to the Hello campaign, Surrey are running their Every Child A Talker (ECAT) initiative, which is spreading the word to parents and childcare practitioners about everyday activities, which can help a child’s language develop.
Inspired by the London 2012 Olympics next year, ECAT have launched a Communication Decathlon. Each month the children and adults will have a task to complete which relates to an event in the Olympics Decathlon. If the Children’s Centre successfully completes each task we will be awarded a Communication Decathlon Certificate!
The first task is the 100 Metres and we need 100 photographs of babies and children who use the Children’s Centre performing different actions such as running, jumping, crawling, waving, smiling, sleeping etc. We will be talking to the children about what is happening in the pictrues and what actions and acitivities they are able to do themselves. To further encourage communication, we are asking parents and carers to spend time at home talking to their child about what they can do and then take a photo of them doing the action/activity and email/bring the photo to the Centre. Please help us reach our target of 100 photos – we only need 10 more to stick on our 100 Metres Race Track!!
Task 2 in the Communication Decathlon is the Long Jump and we are incorporating the autumnal season in our activities. It would be fantastic if you could collect leaves, twigs, bark, cones, conkers and the like with your child and bring them to the Children’s Centre on Monday 31st October. If you do not have the opportunity to get out and about with your child, any pictures you can find in magazines are just as good. We will see which gets the longest jump (the highest number collected). Don’t forget to have a chat with your child about the sights, sounds, smells and textures you come across whilst collecting your Autumn treasures!
There is lots of information on display at the Children’s Centre regarding Communication – please ask for a copy of the literature and, of course, if you have any concerns regarding your child’s speech or language please do not hesitate to ask any of the staff or your health visitor.
The Children’s Centre is now a distributor of Bookstart packs – please ask a member of the team. Bookstart offers the gift of free books to all children at two key ages before they start school, to inspire a love of reading that will give children a flying start in life.

Weeeeeeeeeeeeee !!!
Bookstart gives you…
- Free books to share with your child
- Support and guidance as you inspire a love of books in your child
- An opportunity to engage with other families at vibrant and fun community events
- A place to find everything you need to share books, stories and rhymes with your child, online.

Learning To Drive
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