Communication Champion Hubs

Following the Communication Champions Training, the Norwich Opportunity Area (NOA) had a large group of passionate and knowledgeable Early Years practitioners who had no fixed way of networking or sharing their learning with one another. As a result, the NOA started running half termly network meetings, which grew in attendance as more cohorts of communication champions were trained. Our problem was then one of sustainability; Who would take over the running of these network meetings once the NOA project was over? Who would carry on championing the cause for better speech and language practice and provision? From this discussion, the Communication Champion Hubs project was born.

The NOA created 5 Communication Hubs that would act as ‘centres of excellence’ around SLCN. Each school/setting would develop its own areas of expertise and as a result, they would lead in sharing knowledge and best practice around SLCN with other Early Years professionals in the NOA and beyond. The Communication Hubs would also run half-termly network meetings for communication champions and use some of their funding to support workforce training across the city.  

The NOA shared an application form with all schools and settings who had sent a practitioner onto the Communication Champion Training. This outlined the Opportunity Area’s vision for the Communication Hubs and it listed all their associated responsibilities, such as the requirement to continue to grow the Communication Champion Network for example, and run half termly network meetings.  

It also detailed the funding that would be given to a Communication Hub should they be successful, this was £10,000 per Hub, and it asked potential applicants to outline how they would use this money and what outcomes they would hope to achieve. From here, schools and settings were invited to apply for this role, either on their own or in partnership with another school or setting. 

Once all applications had been received, a panel met to review them anonymously. The strengths and weaknesses of each application were discussed and by the end of this process, four Communication Hubs had been chosen. This comprised of one preschool setting, two schools working independently and two schools working together in partnership. Geographically, these four hubs covered each of the four areas of Norwich – north, south, east and west. 

The Norwich Opportunity Area worked with each of the new Hub Leads to finalise their Communication Hub plan and talk through any areas of weakness in their application. The existing Communication Champions Network that had been meeting for the whole Opportunity Area and led network meetings once every half term, was then split up so that all communication champions were reassigned to their local Communication Hub. Following this, funding was distributed and each of the four Communication Hubs took over the running of their own network meetings. 

For the first year, all hub leads were actively supported by the NOA to plan and chair their meetings, collate and manage their distribution lists, build their agendas, and take meeting minutes. Thereafter, the Communication Hub leads took over the full running of these meetings with great success, signifying that the network meetings were now a fully sustainable part of this project. 

In the latter half of 2019, conversations at a strategic level with project stakeholders and partners suggested that there was more to do to reach children earlier with speech and language needs. Following the First 1001 Days report and associated research, a spotlight was shone on the 0-2-year age phase and as a result, the NOA decided to set up a specific 0-2 Communication Hub to address what is happening around communication and language at the earliest stages of a child’s life. 

The process of setting up this Hub was much the same as it had been prior; the only difference being that this Hub’s remit and network meetings would be solely for professionals working with, or with an interest in, 0-2-year-old development. Following an application process, two local nurseries were chosen to work in partnership on this project and from here, a 0-2 Hub Action Plan was created. At time of writing, this Hub is still in its first year of running and is currently being supported by the NOA team but already the distribution list for this hub has reached a total of 57 practitioners from Norwich and beyond. 

Moving forward, all five Communication Hubs are now beginning to think about how they can use some of their funding to support wider workforce development and intervention planning. Over the next 6 months, the Hubs hope to be able to offer the practitioners in their networks an array of funded training opportunities and a new Communication Champion Audit Tool. Each Hub is also concurrently working on ensuring their own settings reflect outstanding speech and language provision and practice, and they are each moving forward with their own action plans and network meeting agendas. For higher level planning and discussions, all hub leads also meet as a collective once every school term. 

We have learnt that successful Communication Hubs can be formed and supported to work together strategically, to improve the speech and language provision and practice of local schools and settings. We have also learnt that Early Years practitioners, from a multitude of education provisions, welcome new opportunities to network together, share best practice, discuss issues and receive continuing professional development (CPD) in relation to early speech, language and communication development. 

To run a successful Communication Hub, alongside passion and dedication, time and capacity are essential. Where this has not been given to a Hub by their senior leadership team, or where it has not been possible due to competing priorities (e.g., Covid-19 fall out/daily work stressors), the knock-on effects of poor network meeting attendance and slow progress against the Hubs original targets, has been seen. 

In other cases, network meeting attendance has varied due to either, the attendees’ lack of time and capacity to engage; meeting days/times that don’t work for the majority; poor organisation and planning; or where geographically, hubs have been slightly too close together meaning that one Hub is thriving whilst the other is not. 

We have also witnessed varying levels of success with moving the network meetings online as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. Whilst in most cases, online meetings have proven successful and allowed practitioners from wider Norfolk to attend the meetings when they normally wouldn’t, it is also evident that in some Communication Hubs, practitioners miss meeting face to face to face and networking socially altogether. 

At present, each individual Hub is weighing up the pros and cons of each approach, before deciding how they’d like to run their meetings in the future.

To date, the success of this project has been measured by two key indicators: 

1. The attendance at Communication Hub Network Meetings: The number of communication champions and other professionals attending the network meetings has remained steady or increased for most Communication Hubs since their launch. Where issues with attendance have occurred, the hub leads and NOA have worked together to find a solution to the problem.
2. Progress against action plans: Although as a result of Covid-19, some agreed actions have been paused or adapted, progress against each Hub’s action plans continues to remain steady. End of year reports and termly Hub Leads Meetings, have served as helpful check-in points to assess progress and impact to date.