EYFS Framework Guide: Personal, Social and Emotional Development Making relationships

What is PSED? Personal development is about how children come to understand who they are and what they can do. Social development covers how children come to understand themselves in relation to others, how they make friends, understand the rules of society, and behave towards others. Emotional development is about how children understand their own and other’s feelings and develop their ability to be empathetic - to see things from another person’s point of view.

Self-confidence and self-awareness Managing feelings and behaviour Making relationships Three aspects of PSED in the EYFS

Making relationships For practitioners, supporting young children in making relationships involves helping them to: form positive relationships and develop respect for others understand how to behave appropriately in groups.

How can we support young children in making relationships? Attitudes and ethos The physical environment Key person working Opportunities and experiences for children Building partnerships with parents

Our attitudes and ethos How well do we act as good role models for children and colleagues? How well do we all understand the importance of body language, eye contact, and tone of voice? What more could we do to enable children of different ages to mix and meet with one another? Can we find a way to organise our systems to minimise the number of changes in key person that a child and family experience? Have we tried to find out how effective our settling-in processes are for new children and families?

Physical environment How could we review our environments to make sure they are welcoming and reassuring – for adults as well as children? Are there better ways we could set up the rooms to encourage children to interact with one another? When did we last review our range of picture books and stories that focus on relationships and friendships? Should we have more images displayed around the setting that show how we value relationships? How can we make sure the outdoor space includes dens and small spaces where children can play with one or two friends?

Key person working How do we show that we all understand the benefits of key person working ? Do we feel we implement this approach well? How effective is our back up procedure if a key person is absent or on holiday? How could we minimise the number of transitions that children experience? How well do we explain key person working to parents? Do all staff feel confident in interacting with the parents of their key children?

Opportunities and experiences for children How well do we organise activities and experiences that enable children to see the benefits of cooperating with one another? Should we spend more time talking together with children as a group, helping them to negotiate how the group will spend its day? How do we plan for longer term projects, based on children’s interests, that groups of children can work on together? How could we improve how we manage mealtimes to make these pleasant social occasions? Should we give the children more opportunities to engage with the wider community through visits and visitors?

Building partnerships with parents Do we feel we spend enough time building up a relationship with parents and helping them to understand how we work? How well do we prepare children and parents for transitions within the setting? How could we improve the partnerships we have in place to support a young child’s transition to a new setting? What more could we do enough to make fathers feel welcome?