Communication Friendly Award
- Professionals and Clinicians
- Training and workshops
This award is for schools only

The Communication Friendly Award celebrates communication and language excellence in schools. It highlights the schools who embed communication and language in their daily practice.
Communication Friendly schools help children and young people to be confident communicators. The whole school commits to supporting and developing communication and language skills.
By removing communication barriers, communication friendly schools create a supportive environment for everyone. It helps children and young people with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN) to reach their potential.
You will spend 2 terms ensuring your school and staff meet the standards for the award. A member of our team will assess your school to make sure standards are in place. We will check to make sure your school meets our standards. They will visit during the third term. For example, if you apply during the summer term, the visit will be in spring term.
The award will last for 3 years. You will need to re-register your interest after 3 years.
Assessment standards
- Physical environment
- High quality classroom talk
- Use of language by adults
- Implementation of the whole school approach
Award participation criteria
For your school to be eligible for the Communication Friendly Award, you must have a Communication Champion team. The team must contain:
- at least 3* members of staff who have completed our school communication courses including:
- Communication Champion course (Bedford Borough or Central Bedfordshire)
- Elklan course
- Talking Success course (no longer offered)
- a SENDCo and a member of the senior leadership team
*If your school has less than 100 pupils, you may have a smaller Communication Champion team.