This simplified timeline illustrates the recommended delivery schedule for the NELI programme.
We have developed an online training and support model to enable school staff to access comprehensive training to deliver NELI at times and at a pace that suits them, as well as being able to receive ongoing support throughout the programme. Staff who are nominated to deliver the 20-week programme will access online training via the platform FutureLearn.
The NELI training is made up of three online courses:
NELI Course 1: Language Fundamentals
NELI Course 2: Delivering the NELI Intervention
NELI Course 3: Delivering Part 2 of the NELI Intervention
Plus the NELI Support Hub
The person delivering NELI to pupils needs to complete courses 1 and 2 before starting to deliver NELI to the children. The third course needs to be completed before reaching Part 2 of the programme (week 11). Please note that Course 2 gives some tips on how to prepare the NELI resources so you may want to allow time for resource preparation before you begin with NELI.
Class teachers are required to complete Course 1 (4 –5 hours) but have the option to work through all the material if they wish. We recommend NELI leads also complete course 1.
You can find more information about the NELI training by clicking Learn more below.
LanguageScreen is a tablet-based language assessment tool which we recommend completing with all your 4-5 year old pupils to inform your decisions about which pupils receive the NELI programme.
NELI leads will be required to upload a spreadsheet listing the school’s pupils. This will lead to an output of QR codes linked to each pupil which can be distributed to the staff who will complete the language assessments with the children.
Schools are encouraged to choose a suitable time at the beginning of the school year to complete the assessments. It will take around 10 minutes per pupil and there is content within Course 1 of the online training programme to support you with LanguageScreen assessments.
Once your school’s account is activated, you can add additional users such as your school admin to assist with managing your account and assessing pupils.
If you would like to inform parents that your school will be using LanguageScreen to assess pupils, we have created a template for you to use. Please click on this link to read more and download the letter template.
You can find our more information about LanguageScreen by clicking Learn more below.
Schools signed-up to NELI will receive physical resources (handbooks, flashcards and Ted the puppet) needed to deliver the NELI programme to pupils. We recommend planning in some time to ready the materials for use with pupils e.g. cutting up some of the flashcards and putting them into small folders.
You can find our more information about the NELI Resource Packs by clicking Learn more below.
Schools can start delivering the programme to pupils as soon as staff have completed training, identified which pupils they would like to benefit from NELI using LanguageScreen and received the physical resources (NELI kit). Please ensure you have sufficient time to complete the full 20-week NELI intervention.
The NELI intervention involves providing 20 weeks of small group and individual sessions. There are 3 group sessions a week taking 30 minutes each, and 2 individual sessions a week per child which take around 15 minutes. If a member of staff is supporting 5 NELI pupils they usually need 4 hours a week to deliver the programme.
To support staff with the latter half of the programme there is a short third online training course – NELI Course 3: Delivering Part 2 of the NELI Intervention – which staff are required to complete before they reach week 11 of the programme materials. Again, staff can work through the online materials at their own pace with it usually taking around 2 hours to complete.
More information on how the NELI intervention is structured can be found by clicking Learn more below.
Once children have received the 20 weeks of the NELI programme we suggest schools use LanguageScreen to reassess NELI children’s language. This will aid schools with reviewing children’s progress and support with planning what provision may be needed as the children move into year 1. It will also help schools understand if the ‘language gap’ has begun to close for NELI pupils.
