Helping young children to rest and sleep is something which many of us do every day in nurseries, yet it is hardly ever discussed or written about. It's one of those aspects of working in the early years that seems to be learned 'on the job', without much consideration of different approaches and theories.
There are very few references to sleep in the new Early Years Foundation Stage. Yet there is growing research evidence to suggest that getting enough rest and sleep is essential to children's health, development and learning in early childhood.
When Kate Greenaway Nursery School and Children's Centre was piloting the EYFS, we wanted to consider how we could put the principles and commitments in place for all the children across the whole birth-to-five age range. One of the issues which arose was that there were breaks in practice between our work with children from birth to three, and the older children. Nowhere was this more evident than in practice relating to sleep.
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