Two childminders from Ely have been awarded just under £10,000 to work with children and their families to help build confidence in communication, language and literacy (CLL) as part of a new project.

Sue Smith and Susie Morris will run the REAL Project Cambridgeshire to help parents from up to eight families in understanding their child's development with home learning before they go to reception class.

The pair will be working with the National Children's Bureau (NCB) to provide training to support children within the ORIM framework representing opportunities, recognition, interaction and modelling.

Both having taken part in a pilot of the REAL programme in 2014 with the National Children's Bureau, it's aim is to engage parents and settings in their children's early literacy development.

Sue said: "We are both passionate about caring for children and making their time with us the best it can be, supporting their early years and preparing them for eventual transition to reception.

"This is not all about the children being able to read and write but equipping them with the life skills for them to succeed.

"The transition to school can be a challenging experience for the children and their families so to have a project which will offer support in early literacy development, we feel, will make a huge difference to a child's disposition, attitude and resilience."

The training took place over two days for Sue and Susie on January 25 and February 1, along with 13 practitioners from early years sectors coming together.

Sue said: "Hopefully by the end of the project in June, we will be able to show our evaluation of our findings and how the children are better prepared in not only their early literacy skills, but with their life skills which are vital for their continuing learning and development.

"We will be calling on other professionals in our sector to support us as we run informal literacy events for families and children and enjoy home visits where we will support and encourage children's learning in their own environment, with an aim to cascade the good work of REAL to other early years settings."

The REAL project is supported by the Education and Empowerment Fund (EEF).