Dear parent/carer,

We are writing to let you know that your child’s nursery is taking part in an evaluation of Learning, Language and Loving It™ – The Hanen Program® for Early Childhood Educators (Hanen LLLI). This is a programme designed to help nursery workers to support young children to build their language and social skills.

The evaluation of Hanen LLLI is being funded by the Education Endowment
Foundation (EEF) and carried out by us, the National Centre for Social Research(NatCen). Our evaluation will answer four key questions:

• How is Hanen LLLI delivered?

• What is needed to successfully deliver Hanen LLLI, and what prevents success?

• What, if any, changes do nursery workers make to the way that they interact with children as a result of taking part in Hanen LLLI?

• What, if any, impact does Hanen LLLI have on children’s language and
communication development?

The evaluation is a randomised control trial. This means that half of the nurseries are taking part in the Hanen LLLI program, and the other half are carrying on with their normal teaching and childcare. At the end of the trial, NatCen will compare children’s language and communication development across nurseries that do and do not attend the programme, to see if there is any difference. We will also look at children’s level of development in Reception year (using Early Years Foundation Stage scores)to see if there is any difference between the two groups.

What does the evaluation mean for my child?

NatCen’s evaluation will include two key activities that affect your child:

1. Running vocabulary assessments with children. Your child may take part in a short, child-friendly vocabulary assessment. The assessment will take between 15-30 minutes. It will be carried out in June and July 2021 by a qualified Speech and Language Therapist or Early Years Consultant. NatCen will randomly select a small group of children to be assessed in each nursery. Your child will not be at a disadvantage if they are not selected to take part.

2. Comparing achievement in Reception year. NatCen will match your child’s unique pupil number, name and date of birth to the National Pupil Database to access their early years foundation stage results.

How will my child’s information be used?

Your nursery will share the following information about your child with NatCen:
• Name
• Date of birth
• Unique pupil number (UPN)

• Attendance patterns, e.g. full/part-time
• Early Years Pupil Premium Status

NatCen will randomly select children to take part in the language assessments in June and July 2021. We will remove children’s names and compare children’s results across nurseries that do and do not attend the programme, to see if there is any difference in their language and communication development.

NatCen will securely store your child’s details until they reach the end of Reception year. At the end of Reception, the Department for Education will match your child’s information to the National Pupil Database (NPD). We will access your child’s Early Years Foundation Stage results and compare children’s results across nurseries that do and do not attend the programme, to see if there is any difference.

NatCen will share results (including information from the NPD) with the Department for Education, the EEF’s archive manager and with the Office for National Statistics and potentially other research teams. Further matching to NPD and other administrative data may take place during later research. NatCen will securely delete personal information about your child no more than six months after the evaluation is finished (by June 2023 at the latest).

For more information about how we use information, please visit our privacy notice:  http://www.natcen.ac.uk/taking-part/studies-in-field/evaluation-of-hanen-learning-
language-and-loving-it/privacy-notice/

What if I don’t want my child’s information being used in the evaluation?

You have the right to object to your child’s information being used in this evaluation. If you object, please tell your child’s nursery by Friday, 13 November 2020. After this, you can still choose to withdraw your child from the evaluation by contacting NatCen, using the contact details below.

Who do I contact if I have any questions?
If you would like more information, please get in touch at LLLI@natcen.ac.uk or by calling 0808 169 1224.

Best wishes,

Jonah Bury

Senior Researcher
NatCen – Social Research that works for society