In our nursery at Boyne Hill, we focus on preparing our pupils for the early stages of learning to read. Careful listening, sound discrimination and oracy skills (speaking) are key to success in future reading development so these are the areas we concentrate on. Our language rich environment where we talk, explain, share stories and talk about stories, sing rhymes and songs with repeated refrains, helps to develop each pupil's vocabulary and ignite a love of stories and books.

We cannot stress enough how important talk and stories are in developing children's vocabulary and language, whether these stories are read at home in English or the child's home language. You can find lots of ideas for supporting learning at home in the folder with the green splatter shape.