Workstream 1  

This report presents a positive picture of an effective intervention where the Oracy Aotearoa coordinators oversaw the intervention within the two centres. The evaluators observed happy, confident tamariki following and benefitting from the HPP procedures. The centres’ kaiako, the whānau of the tamariki and the volunteer tutors were all enthusiastic about the content of the HPP programme. The outcomes for tamariki, as shown through formal assessments and observations by all adults involved, showed positive outcomes for both improved oracy skills and for confidence and competence in conversations, social skills and leadership qualities. This is a very pleasing outcome.  

Workstream 2  

Oracy Aotearoa had less direct influence over the Community Engagement Strategy – providing training that encourages Oracy promotion strategies, improved understanding of language development milestones and supporting community workers and whānau to recognise oracy difficulties in tamariki. These were intended to be run through two community centres that linked with whānau. One community centre opted to not participate. The second centre relied on the kaimahi to pass on key messages and to both attend and to invite whānau to the two series of three workshops. Attendance at these workshops was low. However, the consensus from those who did attend was that the workshop was informative and useful. Oracy Aotearoa chose to engage with children's librarians in three local libraries, and community health and education professionals to extend the Pilots reach into their wider community.  

Workstream 3  

The third workstream within the pilot programme was the Public Promotional Campaign, designed to raise awareness about oracy and the strategies and tools people can use to support oracy acquisition. The campaign was considered successful across the Google Advertisement layer, acquiring a large number of views, thereby achieving its goal of raising awareness about oracy. The second and third layer of the public promotional campaign was less successful revealing lower engagement levels.  

As the evaluation team, we reiterate that the evidence shows that the work of Oracy Aotearoa with preschool-age children is essential. The pilot achieved improvements in target children’s vocabulary, conversation, confidence and well-being over a relatively short period of time. All participants in the evaluation - whānau, ELS kaiako, Year 0 teachers, Speech Language Therapist – agreed that early oracy acquisition is essential for ongoing life success for tamariki, that waiting to school age causes needless developmental delays and the benefits from the intervention are noteworthy.