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Posted on 27 Nov 2023

Nottinghamshire Healthcare’s fantastic Early Intervention Speech and Language team won The Public Sector Children's Team Award at the Children and Young People Now Awards on 24 November. After also winning the Inclusive Practice Award at the Nursery World Awards on 30 September 2023.

The team, commissioned by Small Steps Big Changes (SSBC), offers four different speech and language services for children in four of the SSBC wards in Nottingham city (Aspley, Bulwell, Hyson Green & Arboretum and St Ann’s). The aim is to help all children develop their best possible communication skills to help them learn and be happy. The team aim to reach all families who need their support and make the services as easy and as flexible as possible.  

SSBC is one of the ‘A Better Start Partnerships’ is a programme of activities designed to give every child the best start in life. 

Learning to communicate is a crucial life skill. Language and communication skills help children and young people make friends, achieve and learn. 

Becky Sutton, Chief Operating Officer at Nottinghamshire Healthcare said:

Congratulations to the team for winning their second national award, which is brilliant news and further demonstrates the outstanding service they provide.  Many children and young people with Speech, Language and Communication Needs (SLCNs) can find it hard to join in and learn when they start school, and to manage their friendships and emotions.

  This is why the teams work is so important, with the right support - especially early in life - improvements can be made in children’s communication skills and reduce these wider difficulties. It is absolutely fantastic to see their important work recognised nationally for a second time.

SLCNs are common. Nottingham has a higher than average number of children and young people with SLCNs. But, compared to the national average, Nottingham has lower funding and fewer staff to deliver speech and language services, including services for the youngest children. 

Julia Harris, Speech and Language Therapist said:

We are all thrilled to win this second national award that recognises our hard work in making our services as inclusive as possible. We are so proud to represent and show off the good work we do at Notts Healthcare. We value the importance of a good quality evidence base in speech and language service provision and we focus on keeping children and families at the heart of what we do. We hugely value working closely alongside the wonderful Bi-lingual Co- Worker team too, to ensure we reach more families that need our support. We have translated many of our resources into some of the most commonly spoken languages in the wards and we have trialled different ways of working such as evening sessions to include more working parents to be able to access our offers. 

We are committed to providing parents / carers and children with the best possible support to help children to develop their language and communication skills, giving them the very best start in life.

  The team offer four services for different early years ages. The key messages that run through-out all the sessions are the importance of play and interaction for children’s language development. The team work closely with parents and carers coaching them in evidence - based play strategies and activities to support children’s speech and language development.

The team offer services for children and families in Aspley, Bulwell, Hyson Green and Arboretum and St Ann’s ( SSBC wards), from age 9 months up until their 4^th birthday.

If you would like to find out more please find the link to our four services here and the postcode checker to see if you live in the SSBC wards.