As part of our most recent health and wellbeing input we were advised to watch two videos about the importance of early years, pre birth-three. One of the videos was by Doctor Suzanne Zeedyk and the other was by John Carnochan OBE.
Both videos focussed on the fact that as humans, we are brought into the world much earlier in our brain development than other species due to the size of our brains. This means that children’s brains are still developing throughout the early stages of life and factors such as relationships that they have with significant people in their life and the quality of environment around them will have an impact on their brain.
A scenario focussed on in the clips is that if a child is brought up in a home wherein domestic violence takes place, the child’s brain will then be focussed on the violent environment and the stress around the, the brain will then see the world around them as a threatening place and be focussed on spotting the next threat, this can then make t difficult for a child to concentrate in a classroom setting therefore have an impact on their learning.
Due to brain development being ongoing in the early years of a child’s life, it is important that children have significant others in their life and a safe, consistent environment to ensure that their brain development assists their learning and does not hinder it. For some children the only place that they will have this safe, consistent and supportive environment is within nursery or school.
By watching the videos I am now more aware of the importance we have, as primary practitioners to ensure that children have this safe and consistent environment available to them as many will not have it at home. I feel as though having this knowledge will impact on my professional practice as I will ensure that my classroom is a place in which my pupils feel safe and supported and I will aim to be a significant other in the life’s of my pupils to ensure I can aid their brain development and watch them grow as learners and also as individuals.
