Did you know, Chatter Matters?

 In 2014 we launched an exciting initiative called ‘Chatter Matters’.

Research has shown that the opportunity to talk with adults is vital for children’s language and cognitive development, right from their very first days of life when mummy and daddy look at their new baby and make cooing noises, up to the opportunities as children get older to articulate more complex thoughts and feelings. Talking with your children, from infancy and beyond quite literally builds brain power! In addition, developing strong early language skills greatly enhances children’s ability to learn to read and write as they go through school.

In today’s busy world, where children have access to the many tempting distractions that technology offers, it is sometimes difficult to sit down and have a good old chat with your child. For this reason, we are adding conversation to the children’s weekly homework, and are looking for your help to make it happen.

Each week’s Chatter Matters conversation topic will be communicated to you on a small sticker in your child’s planner or reading record and on the school’s website. Usually it will relate in some way to our Monday assembly theme, which can also be seen weekly on our website. We ask that you:

• Set aside 10-15 minutes
• Ensure the TV, computer, radio etc are switched off and you have no distractions
• Try to encourage your child to chat about the topic in hand, making good eye contact, listening to your replies and responding to them. You can model this by showing them what to do
• Sign the chatter matters sticker when you’ve enjoyed your conversation

If you have more than one child, you can all talk together if you wish, and do feel free to stray from the prompt questions – they are only there to get you started.

Our next round of Inspire Sessions will focus on Chatter Matters to support you in getting this to be part of the children’s home learning routine.

I hope you enjoy this week’s topic, which is all about books and stories, in preparation for World Book Day on Thursday this week. (Hope you’ve got your costumes ready!)

Example questions:

• If you could, what would you change about the world?
• How would you go about changing it?
• Why is it importnat to be polite to people?