Giving children what they really need to help them succeed:

A year of online workshops designed to help support the diversity of developmental and behavioural needs that young children are displaying in schools and settings across the UK and in international schools.

These sessions are not linked specifically to one particular curriculum framework so are appropriate regardless of country.

Schools and settings continue to report that since the Covid lockdowns, large numbers of children are still arriving at school and in settings with significant gaps in their development.

It is important to remember that those starting at nursery or school in 2024/25 were babies during the lockdowns, and as a result may have been exposed to less social interactions, fewer opportunities for communication, real world experiences etc.

When we add to this the fact that many families appear to be existing in stressful circumstances, it is little wonder that more children than ever are showing delays in meeting the usual milestones.

Pressures on services may also result in more children with additional needs missing out on being referred for assessment and receiving support before they come to nursery or school.

What does all this mean for those struggling at the chalkface to support the children they work with and give them the best educational foundations possible?

In this series of workshops, I will not be promising a magic bullet solution! What I will do is share my 30 plus years of knowledge and experience, around working to build strong learning foundations for young children entering settings and schools with skills and behaviours which do not match typical development levels. My key focus will be on starting with where the child is in their development and building upon that, rather than giving one-size-fits-all intervention suggestions.

It is well established that certain aspects of children’s development are particularly crucial to their early learning and to later success in life. Therefore, these sessions will focus on children who are at an earlier stage of social, emotional, linguistic, or physical development than their peers, and who are not yet demonstrating key characteristics of learning in age-appropriate ways.

I will share both theory and research, as well as plenty of practical strategies and examples to help delegates nurture children’s growth in these areas whilst also supporting their early mathematics and literacy learning.

Over the course of these sessions, I will:

• Revisit important aspects of brain development in the early years, particularly executive-functioning and self-regulation, and hear how other features of child development influence this.
• Explore the links research has found between positive attachments with adults in settings/school and improvements in attention, behaviour, language, and learning.
• Discuss ways of supporting families to understand and encourage children’s development in these areas.
• Give practical strategies for helping children build a solid foundation of the Core Conditions for Cognitive Development: 

• Connected and confident – feeling safe, having high wellbeing and a sense of belonging.
• Calm and compassionate – understanding their own and other’s feelings and beginning to self-regulate. 
• Co-operating and collaborating – learning to be part of a group, to follow expectations and beginning to resolve conflict. 
• Communicating and comprehending - developing their expressive and receptive language skills 
• Co-ordinated and competent – building core physical strength and fine motor control. 
• Curious and creative – develop confidence in exploring, pretending and being imaginative.
• Capable and courageous – developing independence and being willing to take risks and try things out.
• Captivated and concentrating – being engaged with and inspired by early reading, writing and mathematical development.