Personal, Social and Emotional Curriculum

Hungerford Nursery School Centre for Children and Families

Everyone Matters – Be the Best you can be –

All Learn: All Lead: All Achieve

Personal, Social and Emotional Development

The EYFS 2021 states that the educational programmes must involve activities and experiences for children as set out under the area of learning:

"Children’s personal, social and emotional development (PSED) is crucial for children to lead healthy and happy lives, and is fundamental to their cognitive development. Underpinning their personal development are the important attachments that shape their social world. Strong, warm and supportive 9 relationships with adults enable children to learn how to understand their own feelings and those of others. Children should be supported to manage emotions, develop a positive sense of self, set themselves simple goals, have confidence in their own abilities, to persist and wait for what they want and direct attention as necessary. Through adult modelling and guidance, they will learn how to look after their bodies, including healthy eating, and manage personal needs independently. Through supported interaction with other children, they learn how to make good friendships, co-operate and resolve conflicts peaceably. These attributes will provide a secure platform from which children can achieve at school and in later life."

Intent of Personal, Social and Emotional Development Curriculum

Emotional well-being is vital: a child who is unhappy is not able to learn. Personal, Social and Emotional (PSE) is crucial in the building blocks for the children’s overall development.

We support children to learn to get on with others and make friends, understand and talk about feelings, notice how others are feeling, learn about 'right' and 'wrong', support the children in saying ‘stop’ if they do not like something that is happening, care for others, able to ask for help, develop independence such as take care of their belongings and find resources and ultimately feel good about themselves and be resilient bouncing back when things get tricky.  We want children to develop a language of learning so that they can become resilient.

Implementation of Personal, Social and Emotional Curriculum

• Daily routines reassure children as they begin to understand the structure of the day and predict what is coming next.
• Visual timetables to support children who aren't able to understand verbal prompts yet.
• Makaton and PECS symbols available to support at all times.
• Continuous provision of resources that encourage independence and choice.
• Adult Modelling and Interactions. The role of the adult is to support children in making the correct decisions through discussions and leading by example.
• Group Times build relationships between children and staff and enable children to develop their confidence and social skills.
• Reflection sessions give children the opportunities to plan their own activities and learning and how to review their successes.
• Dino school social skills groups to support children in their overall development of PSE.
• Adults supporting self-regulation through modelling and sharing techniques with children
• Sensory Circuits – to regulate emotions
• Conflict Resolution - Staff use conflict resolution to support children in learning how to deal with issues between their peers.
• New experiences and visits help children to learn how to manage their behaviour in different situations, how to self-regulate and deal with changes in their routine.
• Positive relationships and positive behaviour strategies are promoted throughout the Nursery (see Positive Relationships policy)
• Following School Positive Relationships (Behaviour) Policy - staff being consistent in their approaches.
• Stories can be used as a hook to discuss certain situations or behaviours
• Home visits to secure a positive transition between families and school 
• Persona Dolls to support talking about everyday and challenging situations
• Using the language of learning with all children such as problem solving, challenging, ‘I tried and I tried’ etc (see Language of Learning)