1 To help children settle in a new setting, it is important that you know how to spell and say their preferred names.
* Prepare a badge for each child, checking the spelling with parents. Make a display, perhaps a fruit tree, to which the badges can be attached like fruit. Encourage the children to identify and put on their badges as they arrive.
2 Social development requires activities rich with interaction between children and adults from a variety of different backgrounds.
* Set up an imaginative play area that encourages children to interact with others. Try a supermarket using boxes and packets of many different foodstuffs. Sell plastic fruit and vegetables, including tropical fruit and more unusual vegetables. Talk to the children about goods for sale.
* Extend the activity by discussing what food each child likes to eat. Discuss the homes that the children live in, and how many people are in their family. Talk about similarities and differences.
3 Consider the opportunities during the day in which children can be encouraged to relate to others.
* Keep a record of examples of co-operation in the daily routine. Note instances of when children help one another, what activities require turn-taking, how group tasks are carried out, and what happens in circle time sessions.
4 Developing children's confidence, self-reliance, and self-esteem is an aim of all early years work.
* Draw a spider chart with self-esteem at its centre. On each of the legs identify a self-help activity that will develop confidence in the child.
* Introduce opportunities for children to decide what they do or do not do. For a week, record in your diary the circumstances in which children have been able to make decisions and take responsibility for their actions.
* Make a list of the different ways children can be rewarded for appropriate actions and behaviour.
5 Young children are learning new words and ways of expressing themselves every day. Consider how you can help them recognise and deal with their feelings by giving them opportunities and words to express themselves.
* Select a storybook with an emotional message. Tell the story to a small group of children and take time to discuss its themes.
* Set up a nursery theatre with a variety of puppets, either commercial or home-made. Talk to the children about what the characters may say. Give them a situation to act out using the puppets - for example, how to help a friend when they are sad. The assessor can observe these activities.
6 Children for whom English is a second language may lack confidence in expressing themselves.
* Devise a programme for a reluctant communicator. Identify opportunities for the child to relate to other children, activities and games to encourage speech, and one-to-one sessions with an adult. Include a home link in your plan, as bringing items from the child's home to nursery will enhance the child's status and confidence.
7 Help children develop their own identity and personality using resources that are not stereotypical.
* Make a list of the resources in your setting that are not stereotypical and look through catalogues to identify other such resources. Discuss the list with your assessor.
8 Use local resources.n Plan a visit to a local fire station to show positive role models. Include in your plans ways of using the experience when back in the setting.
9 Find out what the procedure is in your setting if a child is having emotional difficulties.
10 Moving to a new setting can be distressing for a young child.
* Using small-world figures to allow the child to address fears of the unknown in a safe environment. Be supportive and join in the game. Record the experience as a reflective account to include in your portfolio.
Top Tip! Advice from Moira Davies, learning facilitator for EYCE at Burton College: 'Take every opportunity to enhance children's self-image and self-esteem by praising their behaviour and achievements, no matter how small.'
