Nurturing Children's Well-Being

A recent National Awareness Week for children's mental health, has highlighted how we intertwine good practice to nurture children's well-being throughout our nursery.

A big part of our ethos here at St. Michael's, is encouraging self-belief, nurturing self-esteem, confidence and promoting well-being and mindfulness. Our team are here to support children in managing big feelings, offering tasks to encourage perseverance, inviting children to explore and take part in valuable learning experiences and problem solving.

Our team know how important play is and how everyday occurrences can contribute and support a child’s skills to thrive and be life long learners.

From the babies right through to kindergarten, the children enjoy a wide range of experiences to support their curiosity, awe, wonder, social and emotional development.

Treasure baskets, soft play, calming music, light box and light projector are just some of the opportunities that our youngest Ladybirds and Butterflies have on offer here. Clare from Story Bears is also a regular visitor to the nursery and will tell stories, read poems, play music and catch bubbles.

Dragonflies also enjoy Story Bears time and love to calm and rest before lunch. They have a large playroom for exploring messy play and opportunities to play and dress up in the role play area offering a wealth of personal, social and emotional development and play.

Both Kindergarten and Dragonflies also have access to their own beautiful wooden summer houses that spill straight out onto our huge garden. The natural wooden décor is a calming environment encapsulating a child’s senses.

Research shows that sensory experiences such as touch, smell, sight, sound are strongly linked to memory. Memory and cognition is a key instrument in learning and building those neural pathways to learn something new.

The olfactory bulb, which processes scents, is directly connected to the limbic system, responsible for emotions and memory. (The Curiosity Approach, 2022)

It fosters a deeper connection to the natural world, encouraging imagination through play. For example, we invite children to be a tuned to natural resources to explore such as snipping herbs, using clay and fostering imagination and creativity using loose parts; corks, wooden blocks, pine cones, pebbles and sticks to name a few.

We also have a dedicated ‘Hygge Hut’ where children are invited to enjoy quiet games, listen to music, read stories, enjoy a puppet show or partake in board games. Hygge is loosely translated to 'living in the moment' and 'being present' with each other. This feeling is called ‘Hygge’, the Danish concept of living in the moment.

Kindergarten provide a wealth of inviting activities, everyday rituals, routines, familiar songs and rhymes to establish connectivity, familiarity and a sense of belonging.

Our Kindergarten team are always smiling and welcoming and are highly trained to help manage those BIG feelings that are tricky to navigate through.

Using methods in everyday practice, children are learning to identify their feelings and to recognise these emotions. These include using ‘calming jars’, puppets, stories and conversations about the storyline/characters, a ‘Tell Me Tree’ for quiet reflection and a place of calm, Yoga, practical fun breathing technique methods and the use of a Himalayan Singing Bowl.

Working closely with our SENDCo, our kind and caring team help to nurture each child’s well-being with strategies in place for when emotions are difficult to regulate. Some times children can become overwhelmed or frustrated and the team sensitively intervene with techniques to help emotional regulation.

This will help them build the skills they need to thrive in an ever changing world.

Building resilience is a fundamental principle when looking at how to support the child’s well-being. Problem solving, critical thinking and developing independence and self care are all points that contribute to how children can over come obstacles. Our trained staff observe and only intervene to offer encouragement or to help scaffold and adapt the situation for the child to work through their difficulties. For example, if a child is pushing a wheel barrow and the wheel keeps getting stuck on something causing it to halt, our team will observe the child trying to work out they why instead of immediately moving the obstacle in order to avoid frustration.

When we constantly intervene to rescue children from challenging situations or immediately provide them with solutions, we inadvertently hinder their ability to develop important skills. (Skoolhouse, 2023)

Then of course there is Forest School, Outdoor Learning and play time to explore the great outdoors.

Children have access to fresh air and free play in our large extensive garden, 0-2 years safe balcony garden, mud kitchen area, hard playground, wild flower garden, vegetable patch and woods.

Our staff are woodwork trained through ‘Learning through Landscapes’ and we offer woodwork for children aged 3 years plus.

Children attend regular Forest School sessions and from 3 years of age they attend regular campfire cooking sessions.

Forest School is a holistic approach with the child in the centre of everything we offer. We build a strong sense of community and this in turn provides a powerful sense of connection, building friendships and a powerful sense of self worth.