High Quality Interactions @ Norwood
Communication and Language at Norwood
At Norwood, we believe that strong communication and language provide essential foundations for children’s learning, relationships and wellbeing. Talking and listening help children to understand the world, express their ideas and feelings, make friends, solve problems and become confident readers and writers.
Children develop language through warm, responsive conversations with adults who know them well. This is why we use the ShREC approach to support high-quality interactions in school and encourage families to use the same simple principles at home.
What is ShREC?
ShREC is an evidence-informed approach developed by the Education Endowment Foundation. It helps adults remember four important features of a high-quality conversation. Find out more about the EEF ShREC approach.
Sh – Share attention | Notice what your child is looking at, doing or interested in. Get alongside them and show genuine interest. | “You spotted a tiny snail.” |
R – Respond | Respond warmly to your child’s words, sounds, gestures, expressions and actions. A smile, nod or interested pause can be just as important as words. | “You’re listening to the rain tapping on the window.” |
E – Expand | Repeat what your child communicates and add a little more language or thinking. | Child: “Car fast.” |
C – Conversation | Allow time for a relaxed, back-and-forth exchange. Make a comment, pause and give your child time to take a turn. | “I wonder where the car is going…” |
Comment more and question less
Questions have a place, but too many questions can make a conversation feel like a test:
“What is that?”
“What colour is it?”
“How many are there?”
Try noticing and commenting first:
“That bus is enormous.”
“You found three smooth shells.”
“That character looks worried.”
Pause afterwards. Your comment may encourage your child to share an idea without being put under pressure to find a correct answer.
When you do ask questions, choose ones that encourage children to think and explain:
“What do you notice?”
“Tell me more.”
“What happened before?”
“What might happen next?”
“Why do you think that happened?”
“How do you know?”
“What could we try?”
“What would happen if…?”
Use the moments you already share
Supporting communication at home does not require special equipment, worksheets or additional lessons. Some of the best conversations happen during familiar activities:
getting dressed;
travelling to and from school;
preparing and eating meals;
playing indoors or outdoors;
tidying up;
bath time;
looking at family photographs;
sharing stories, songs and rhymes.
Follow what interests your child, introduce new words naturally and give the conversation time to develop.
Make shared reading a conversation
Reading together is about much more than finishing the words on the page. Talk about the pictures, notice how characters might be feeling and connect events with your child’s experiences.
You might say:
“I wonder why she did that…”
“What clues can you see?”
“That reminds me of when we…”
“What do you think might happen next?”
“If you were there, what would you do?”
It is fine to pause, revisit a favourite page or allow the story to lead into a completely different conversation.
Every form of communication matters
Communication can include looking, pointing, movement, signing, facial expressions, sounds, words and sentences. Notice and respond to the way your child communicates rather than focusing only on spoken words.
Children also need time to process language and organise their response. Try pausing and silently counting to five before speaking again.
Families who use more than one language should continue talking, playing, singing and sharing stories in the language or languages they know best. This gives children access to rich vocabulary, ideas, humour, memories and family stories.
Working together
If you have concerns about your child’s understanding, listening, speech or interaction, please speak to their class teacher or key person. We can listen to your concerns, share what we notice in school and agree appropriate next steps together.