The video that we were asked to watch on the importance of early years was eye-opening. It showed just how important a child’s environment is as it has an impact it on their development and relationships.

During the video, Suzanne Zeedyk talked about the importance of relationships in babies lives and how the type of responses they get are very impactful to their brains. She expressed how the environment that babies grow up in shapes their relationships and experiences and therefore their brain develops in relation to the environment they are in. She then went on to tell us how once key pathways have been established they don’t change and they stick with you into adulthood. 

So how does this link to me as a Primary practitioner? In the video, Suzanne Zeedyk gave the example of a child who has grown up in a home where domestic violence is prominent therefore facing high levels of stress. She explained how cortisol is released when someone is in a situation that causes stress. However, a child living in a home with domestic violence is going to be faced with more stress than the average child, to deal with this the brain realises even more cortisol. This means when the child arrives at school cortisol is continuing to be released and they find it physically impossible to sit still. This is because their mind is elsewhere as they are busy thinking about where the next danger is going to come from. Therefore in the classroom, they are not able to listen or concentrate on anything else that is going on around them, for example, their work.  The video re-enforced to me how important it is as a primary practitioner to make my classroom a safe, inclusive and nurturing environment to ensure that my relationship with every child has a positive impact on their lives. 

Even though this video was only 8 minutes long it managed to have an impact on my views and the new way that I will look at my relationship with children in my class. It has also made me want to take up further reading to find out more about it and what else I can do.