RELATIONSHIPS
We know our children need to feel happy and secure. Relationships are key in achieving this goal.
We start right at the beginning by developing relationships with parents and carers. We invite them in to tour the setting and meet staff. We ask them to share important information about their child. Next, we focus on key workers developing positive relationships with children, having really listened to what families have shared with us.
Simple tips like having the child’s family photograph displayed on the family wall and on their coat peg can make a big difference. We also stagger start dates and times so that children are given time and space to explore on their first day.
As children separate from parents or carers and bond with staff, we work on ensuring children are building relationships with each other. We support this through a range of small-group experiences, such as collaborative:
- cooking
- storytelling
- imaginative play
- music and dance
- exploration of the garden.
Daily small-group carpet sessions in their base rooms also help children to become familiar with their peers’ faces and to remember names. Staff also have the capacity to observe children and scaffold play, so are available to model positive interactions and language or signing.
The Personal, Social and Emotional Development of each child is closely tracked, with the Leuven Scale measuring progress.
RESILIENCE
Resilience is such a vital disposition, linked to wellbeing. Ways we help develop resilience in school include:
- Allowing children to make mistakes and try to solve them. We don’t jump in; maybe watch from the sidelines and be ready to scaffold thinking and model solutions.
- We are joyful and ensure we engage in age-appropriate conversations with our children.
- We negotiate with children and are clear about when and what they can make choices about.
- We make sure all adults in school are consistent and our school values support clear routines and boundaries within which young children can explore and show autonomy about certain aspects of their life.
- We ensure children take risks and so can develop an awareness of managing danger. We talk through assessing safety as we cook, climb, use tools and splash in puddles so children can begin to understand our thought processes.
- We support children to stand up for themselves and encourage them to speak to people when they are upset with them (sometimes we need to model this).
- We challenge children’s learning: we encourage them to develop the confidence to approach learning which may be new and out of their comfort zone. We will share our experiences with them.
- We develop emotional literacy – talking about all emotions and welcoming them all when they arise.
- We ensure we praise attitudes such as kindness, trying, learning from mistakes and talking about our own shortcomings (for example, in story group, when we come to draw story maps, telling the children that I’m not very good at drawing. I impress upon them that I’ll have a go and it doesn’t matter as I am trying. The children often take on the role of cheerleader, saying ‘That’s a great drawing!’).
- Providing children with a warm, loving environment where they feel safe to take risks and make mistakes.
Basically, we try to be open and good examples of calm, resilient humans and think aloud sometimes to children so that we are explicitly modelling language and processes to them, such as, ‘Oh, I was worried when I saw the fog this morning on my bike, but I put my front light on and my helmet and cycled slowly and I was fine!’
Rachel Keeling Nursery School is an Outstanding setting in Bethnal Green, east London