We were delighted to receive generous funding from The Charity of Sir Richard Whittington, of which The Mercers’ Company is trustee, to deliver Making it REAL in Lewisham as part of a three-year funded early literacy programme between 2021-2024.
Working in partnership with Lewisham local authority, the aim of this ambitious 3-year programme was to deliver Making it REAL (MiR) through a holistic, borough-wide approach, creating significant and sustainable impact for children, families and practitioners, as well as providing evidence of what can be achieved through this approach.
We were delighted that Making it REAL Lewisham was shortlisted in two categories in the Children and Young People Now Awards 2024.
At the start of the programme the extent of the challenges faced by the early years’ sector was unknown; the impact of covid-19, the recruitment and retention crisis and stretched capacity within the sector, all of which have had an impact on the programme.
Despite these ongoing challenges, we are really proud of what has been achieved in Lewisham.
We commissioned CREC (Centre for Research in Early Education) to undertake an evaluation of the programme, the full report can be read here (or downloaded below).
Summary of key findings
- Children show improvement in communication, language and early literacy development and also in their life skills e.g. independence, confidence
- Practitioners report increased confidence and knowledge in supporting language and early literacy, particularly increased confidence in working with parents to create positive home learning environments.
- Parents have greater awareness, knowledge and confidence in supporting their child’s language and early literacy. Parenting style and practices have shifted, with more confident, informed, relaxed, and capable parenting.
- Making it REAL has increased the frequency of positive home learning environment activities, as well as enhanced quality of communication offer within settings and in the community.
- Strong partnership has been forged between Early Years and Libraries, and 395 children have signed up to the library through MiR.
- Key enablers of the programme have been strong strategic leadership form the LA, partnership working and multiagency approach across the borough.
- Common barriers have been staffing i.e. workforce, recruitment, retention and ratios, and sufficient time for culture change to happen and be embedded.
We are delighted that Making it REAL is embedded in Lewisham’s strategy, with a strong commitment from the local authority to the sustainability of the programme. We are continuing to work with Lewisham LA during 2024-25 to extend the programme further and to hand it over to the local authority, leaving a sustainable legacy to support young children and families in Lewisham.
Making it REAL Lewisham is a flagship Making it REAL programme, clearly demonstrating what can be achieved through an authority wide approach.
Key learning to take forward is that transformative and lasting change is achieved through genuine partnership working, building trusted relationships within the community, taking a flexible, adaptive, responsive approach and strategic planning for sustainability.
This programme provides an excellent model for other local authorities interested in a holistic, borough-wide approach to embedding and sustaining Making it REAL to support language and literacy development in the Early Years.
If you would like more information about our work in Lewisham contact [email protected]