Evaluating the efficacy of a tiered language support programme for Y1 pupils through a clustered randomised controlled trial.

Infant Language Link is a package that enables schools to identify and support children who have mild to moderate language needs. Teachers/TAs receive online training on how to support pupils with language development. One-to-one pupil screening is completed at the start of the programme to determine whether each child needs additional support with language. All pupils in schools that are using Infant Language Link are taught by their usual teachers, who receive specialist training from the developer, Speech Link Multimedia Ltd, on how to support language learning in the whole class. Pupils identified as needing further support also take part in small group activities with Teaching Assistants to strengthen their language abilities.

The evaluation will be a two-armed cluster-randomised controlled trial, with randomisation at school level. 170 schools will be randomly allocated to either deliver Infant Language Link, or be allocated to the control group which will continue supporting pupils as they would usually in their schools. Control schools will receive £500 as a thank you for taking part in the evaluation activities.

The primary outcome will be the impact of Infant Language Link on language and communication skills in pupils at the end of Year 1.