Protect and strengthen children’s mental health and wellbeing competencies. Use this checklist to guide your observations and pedagogical discussions in EYFS , a visual reminder to focus on building resilience at a time when many children and their families are subject to feelings of anxiety and stress. Observe children at play and identify each child’s strengths and areas for development in terms of mental health. Reflect on your enabling environment and how it supports each child to develop mental health and wellbeing competencies. Support your understanding of a child at risk, or one who is causing concern by responding to the questions as an EYFS team.

A poster showing the importance of observing both competency and risk when considering a young child’s mental health and wellbeing. Children who have low mental health competency will need support from sensitive adults to address the gaps in their health and wellbeing. Use this model alongside the checklist of competencies to consider a child causing concern. Reflect on your enabling environment and encourage pedagogical discussion about the needs of children in your setting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKJuBemELjI The Anna Freud Centre’s Early Years in Mind learning network hosted a webinar on supporting traumatised children in early years settings which took place in June 2021. The event was aimed at frontline practitioners including nursery workers, managers and childminders and was held in response to findings from a survey of nursery workers the report of which can be found at: www.annafreud.org/eyresources Chair: Dr Camilla Rosan, Head of Early Years Programme (AFNCCF) Speakers: Dr Theresa Schwaiger, Clinical Psychologist (AFNCCF), Dr Sheila Redfern, Head of Family Trauma (AFNCCF) and Louise Jackson - Deputy Head/Senior Leader at St Lawrence’s primary school and nursery

A video explaining the idea behind the Until we Meet Again series of books which are all available to download for free on the TES resources page. When you build a narrative alongside photographs of real children taking practical action it can empower others to see what is possible. You can tailor the books to different countries and cultures by changing the pictures and translating the text. I hope the idea will inspire others to create their own books for children about the communities in which they live during the coronavirus pandemic. In this way we can help to protect the mental health of young children during a pandemic. Children are introduced to key health and wellbeing messages and they are encouraged to talk about the new rules which are impacting their lives in developmentally appropriate ways.