Foundation Stage

Personal, Social and Emotional Development

This area of learning is about emotional wellbeing, knowing who you are and what you can do and feeling good about yourself. It is also about developing respect for others, social skills and a positive disposition to learn. For young children, being special to someone and cared for is vital for their physical, social and emotional health and wellbeing. The respect, care, love and emotional support experienced by young children help them to develop emotional safety, trust and a positive self-image. Being acknowledged and affirmed by important people in their lives leads to secure attachments and to children gaining confidence and inner strength. Exploration within close relationships leads to the growth of self-assurance, promoting a sense of belonging, which allows the young child to explore the world from a secure base.

Young children need adults to be positive role models and to give them lots of opportunities for interaction with others, so that they can develop positive ideas about themselves and others. They can express feelings such as joy, sadness, frustration and fear, leading to the development of strategies to cope with new, challenging or stressful situations.

To give all children the best opportunities for personal, social and emotional development, practitioners should give particular attention to:

• establishing constructive relationships with children, with other practitioners, between practitioners and children, with parents and with workers from other agencies, which take account of differences and different needs and expectations;
• finding opportunities to give positive encouragement to children, with practitioners acting as positive role models;
• planning opportunities for children to work alone and in small and large groups;
• ensuring that there is time and space for children to focus on activities and experiences and develop their own interests;
• planning activities that promote emotional, moral, spiritual and social development alongside intellectual development;
• planning experiences that help children develop autonomy and the disposition to learn;
• providing positive images in, for example, books and displays that challenge children's thinking and help them to embrace differences in gender, ethnicity, religion, special educational needs and disabilities;
• providing opportunities for play and learning that acknowledge children's particular religious beliefs and cultural backgrounds;
• planning for the development of independence skills, particularly for children who are highly dependent upon adult support for personal care;
• providing support and a structured approach to achieve the successful social and emotional development of vulnerable children and those with particular behavioural or communication difficulties.