Nursery World - Health & Wellbeing: How to give children a sense of belonging

June O’Sullivan, CEO of London Early Years Foundation, considers why a sense of belonging is important

Credit: Isabelle Johnson, London Early Years Foundation

Every child needs to feel a sense of belonging in their setting – feeling welcomed, accepted and secure. Being close to people and knowing you belong is an essential human need. Children need to feel wrapped in warm and harmonious relationships. This relies on having empathetic staff who understand the power of relationships and the impact they have on the children’s brain architecture and the trillions of connections across the billions of neurons in the different areas of the brain.

Belonging needs to be woven through your pedagogy where the approach to teaching and learning always considers the children. Belonging is often described by parents as their child talking about ‘my nursery’ to family members and feeling proud to show family and friends around their nursery. It’s why having a good policy to support parent partnership and home learning matters. Activities such as Grandparents Tea or encouraging a visiting auntie to be given a nursery tour by her nephew are not to be underestimated.

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