16/12/20
2 min read
Over 6,500 schools have signed up for the Nuffield Early Language Intervention (NELI) as part of the Department for Education’s COVID-19 catch up package for schools.
This represents over one third of primary schools and exceeds the DfE’s initial target for participating schools. The DfE has now increased its target to 40% of primary schools to benefit from NELI this academic year.
NELI was developed with funding from the Nuffield Foundation and will run as a 20-week intervention for pupils from February 2020. Schools will be provided with training and resources, free of charge, helping them deliver one-to-one and small-group support for five-year-olds whose early development in spoken language skills has been disrupted by COVID-19.
Backed by investment of £9 million earlier this year as part of the National Tutoring Programme, the roll out of NELI is targeted at those pupils who need help most, with schools allocated places in priority order based on the proportion of disadvantaged pupils eligible for Free School Meals.
An independent evaluation by the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) found that NELI boosts the language skills of four- and five-year olds by an additional three months.
Josh Hillman, Director of Education“The fact that one third of primary schools in England have already enrolled on the Nuffield Early Language Intervention shows the significant demand for a programme to support disadvantaged children in their language skills, particularly in light of the lost learning due to COVID-19.
“Having supported the development and trialling of NELI to provide evidence of its effectiveness we are delighted that the DfE has increased its target for the number of participating schools. Even more of the most disadvantaged children will be able to acquire the foundations of literacy and learning in this challenging school year.”
