Nursery World Magazione Case Study: Blossom Years Nurseries and Pre-schools / Talk and Move

We are delighted to be featured in Nursery World Magazine’s case study on our Talk and Move program.  A huge thanks to Helen Guntrip who runs the excellent program and trained us on how to implement it in our settings.  The children love it.  Helen Guntrip / Talk & Move / www.talkandmove.co.uk

The article……..

Nursery World Magazine

‘We are finding we are caring for
increasing numbers of children with
speech and language difficulties, from
language delay and attention difficulty
to some children who are non-verbal,’
says operations support manager
Renee Jupp. ‘It’s become more
prevalent since Covid, so we wanted to
strengthen our delivery in this area and
upskill our staff to support children.’

The nursery group currently uses
the programme in its two pre-schools
in Bromley but, following its success,
director Marcelle Imrie says they have
decided to introduce Talk & Move into
their Chislehurst day nursery too. ‘
The earlier we can get support around
speech and language to children then
the better their outcomes will be,’ she
says. ‘We wanted a programme where
we could put support in place and start
helping children before their needs
are formally identified.’

The Talk & Move programme
appealed because it is an activity aimed
at all children. ‘While it’s targeted at
children who may be struggling with
language and literacy skills, everyone
joins in, so children don’t feel singled
out,’ adds Jupp. ‘It hits all different levels
of development for the children.’

Staff had an initial five-week training
on how to use the Talk & Move cards to
run a session, which they now do with
small groups of around ten children for
20 to 30 minutes every week. ‘We find
the cards really simple to follow and
adapt to different ability groups,’ says
Jupp. ‘You don’t have to do all the
actions listed on the back, so for
younger children we may just do the
movement and the sound, while for
older children we could also be clapping
the syllables, talking about rhyming
words and extending and pushing
the children.’

Children now ask for Talk & Move
sessions because they find them so
much fun. ‘We have noticed that
some of the children are repeating
the movements from the sessions
independently while playing, and we
have heard them clapping out words
with their friends during play as well,’
says Jupp. ‘I think they enjoy it because
it’s very physical and they are actively
involved, not just listening. We find
children learn a lot more when they
are active and engaged.’

Staff have noticed children with
speech and language delay are
becoming more confident as they
join in with the movements and singing,
which they attribute to them not
feeling pressurised to speak. ‘We like
the simplicity of the programme,’ says
Jupp. ‘It is also helping staff understand
how to teach speech sounds and
develop them through movement.’