Nurture

Nurture Principle 1 – Children’s learning is understood developmentally

Key Messages:

Practitioners have a sound understanding of early childhood development and the needs of children throughout their developmental stages.
Practitioners have a sound understanding of attachment and sensory learning.

Stimulating, engaging and challenging environments are resourced for the developmental stages of ALL children.
Practitioner understanding of the developmental stages of play, schemas, loose parts and block play is evident in the planning and resourcing of play spaces and experiences.
Practitioners demonstrate a good understanding of the behaviours they observe and respond to the needs of individual children.
Young children are actively encouraged to explore sensory and schematic behaviour patterns.
Children are deeply engaged in developmentally appropriate play experiences both indoors and out.
Children have free access to a wide range of natural and open-ended resources.
Learning journeys reflect the uniqueness of each child and evidence how practitioners support and extend developmentally appropriate learning experiences for that individual.
Settings actively support families in understanding and encouraging schematic behaviours and other developmental play stages their child might display.
Primary 1: Children’s learning is understood developmentally, with learning and play opportunities offered in response to children’s assessed developmental progress rather than attainment levels associated with chronological age. (This could be part of a whole school play strategy.)

Ways we can do this:

“Positive relationships are at the heart of the school/Early Learning and Childcare settings and are seen as underpinning all successful learning and teaching.”

(Applying Nurture as a Whole School Approach, Education Scotland, p. 14)

https://youtu.be/S0-Dh62hexU

Practitioners actively engage with up-to-date and relevant training and put this into practice in the setting.

Developmental milestone trackers gather information about each child (see SBC Developmental Overviews on tabs at the bottom of the Emerging Literacy page).

Team meetings, in-service days, professional reading and discussions, support practitioners to upskill and develop their own knowledge and understanding of child development, including attachment theory.

Planning reflects the developmental stages of children. Practitioners make high-quality observations of children’s learning and use these to develop rich learning opportunities based on developmental stage rather than chronological age.

Moderation of learning journeys by Senior Lead Teams/managers ensures that developmentally appropriate play experiences support and extend the needs of all individuals.

Settings offer targeted interventions to support some families with understanding the importance of developmentally appropriate play experiences and how to help their child at home.

Settings discuss the importance of developmental play patterns with families. They supply information on play, schemas, loose parts and block play to help families understand and support their child’s play and development at home.

‘Stay and Play’ sessions allow families to observe how children can use resources in a developmentally appropriate way.

Speech and Language Therapy (SaLT) actively promote and support a developmentally appropriate play-based curriculum in Primary 1 and above (Fluidity of Early Level).

Learn More 

Nurture Principle 2. The environment offers a safe base

Nurture Principle 3. The importance of nurture for the development of wellbeing

Nurture Principle 4. Language is a vital means of communication

Nurture Principle 5. All behaviour is communication

Nurture Principle 6. The importance of transition in children’s lives