The unique child
The unique child is one of the four guiding principles which should shape all early years practice.
What does the unique child mean?
‘Every child is a unique child who is constantly learning and who can be resilient, capable, confident and self-assured’.
The following resources will support you to put the ‘unique child’ principle into practice.
Inclusion
Identifying what each child knows and can do is the foundation of inclusive early years practice.
Birth to five matters have created some key points on how we can create an inclusive environment where all children’s needs are met. Promoting voice and inclusion
To support the development of provision these two audits will help you to identify what you do well and highlight areas for development.
Early years inclusive environments good practice audit
Inclusive practice is good practice
For more information on inclusion please see the Equality and Diversity button within the Early years toolkit and the Early years inclusion information on our website.
Neuroscience
Neuroscience demonstrates the importance of the early years in relation to brain development. This video ‘Experiences build brain architecture’ explains very simply how brains develop.
This second video demonstrates the importance of quality interactions in supporting healthy brain development. How a child’s brain develops through early experiences. This is a great resource to share with those practitioners working with the youngest children.
UNICEF have created a great video to share with parents about the importance of quality interactions and how this supports brain development. Building babies’ brains through play: Mini Parenting Master Class | UNICEF Parenting
Child Development
The EYFS requires adults to ‘build on what children know and can do’. To do this successfully we need to firstly know children’s starting points and secondly have a solid understanding of child development.
All about me documents are key to capturing information about children from those that know them best, parents.
This Child development overview has been adapted for Birth to five matters from ‘Principles into Practice’ EYFS (2007). This document helps us to understand how all children are unique and develop holistically.
The Department for Education (DfE) have created some free, online training which provides an overview of child development and offers practical advice for how we can support children in our settings. Early years child development training.
Observation, assessment and planning
The EYFS recognises assessment as an important part in helping parents, carers and practitioners recognise children’s progress, understand their needs and plan activities and support.
Formative assessment therefore remains an important part of practice as it allows practitioners to shape teaching around children’s interests and continually build on what they know and can do.
The expectation is that key people will be able to articulate whether a child is at the expected level of development from their knowledge of the child.
The Observation, assessment planning model therefore remains a vital component of good early years practice.
Early recognition of children who may need additional support is vital to children’s outcomes. The progress check at 2 is a statutory requirement of the EYFS requiring settings to review every child’s progress between the ages of two and three years old. The progress check must summarise the child’s development across the prime areas, identify strengths and identify areas where progress maybe less than expected.
The DfE have produced guidance for practitioners working with children aged 2 and 3 years old. Progress check at age 2
The EYFS states, ‘where possible the progress check and the Healthy Child programme health and development review completed by health visitors should inform each other and support integrated working’.
In Worcestershire this is done through the Integrated 2 year check. Please follow the below link for more information.
Cultural capital
Cultural capital is a relatively new term introduced when the EYFS was reviewed in 2021. At it’s simplest it means recognising what experiences and opportunities children may be missing when they arrive at your setting and providing opportunities to fill these.
The document below is designed to share with your teams and prompt thought based on the unique children in your setting.
Resilience
Resilience is the ability to cope with, adapt to and recover from setbacks or adversity. Resilience is threaded through the EYFS and is very much a part of personal, social and emotional development and the characteristics of effective learning. Teaching emotional, mental and physical resilience occurs through our daily interactions with children.
A lesson on resilience is a short video reminding us of what resilience looks like through the child lens.
The Hugging tree is a lovely story to share with children about resilience.
This useful document supports practitioners in the language they use to support children’s intrinsic motivation and growth mindset.
Transition
Transition in the early years can be defined as a period of change from one stage or experience to another. This can be significant events such as a change in the family dynamic or moving onto another setting or school.
Birth to five matters recognises transition as a process not an event and has some interesting documents and resources on this topic. Transitions: Birth to five matters
In addition the Transition case studies really do reflect the reality of transition for children, settings and parents/carers.
School readiness is a huge topic in the early years. The following webpage is an excellent resource for both practitioners and parents/carers ensuring the transition to school is a smooth one.
Is your child ready for school? | Worcestershire County Council
Pacey have created a great visual reminding us of what school readiness can look like. Steps to starting school
We can also think about transition in terms of child development, learning to walk or toilet training are prime examples of significant change for children. Consideration must also be given to the day to day transitions children go through when in our settings.
Not only do children have to transition from home to your setting they then probably go through a range of transitional points throughout the day as we work through our daily routines.
This video by RVH children’s development services explains why transitions can be difficult. Transitions - YouTube
The inclusion team also have a great webcast which talks about the use of visuals in early years settings to support transitional points in the day. Visual support in the Early years
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