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EYITT Early Years Initial Teacher Training

Supplementary materials for 0-2 years age phase

1. Building trust, confidence and independenceSe

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0-2 years 2-5 years (SSTEW) Staff understand that, “nothing matters more than stopping, listening and responding positively to the child” (Fisher 2016)

One-to one time is planned for and sustained in order to facilitate episodes of co-regulation / joint attention, repetition and imitation.

Staff hold and handle babies sensitively, actively ’tuning in’ to their needs and building a secure attachment in order to facilitate security and independence.

Staff are highly responsive to children’s needs and readily soothe them. They understand that this helps the baby to build trust and self-soothing strategies as well as understanding that use of voice, body and facial expressions are precursors to language and motor development.

Staff liaise closely with parents/carers about interpreting a baby’s facial expressions, movements and routines in order to build a positive relationship and support positive/meaningful two-way communication between adult and baby.

Staff regularly present alternative courses of action to alleviate frustration and redirect behaviours into a more meaningful exercise e.g. where a baby is repeatedly throwing an object, use this as an opportunity to explore trajectory schema with the baby in a safe and purposeful context.

Staff actively model sharing and turn-taking and, where appropriate, use tangible devices like an egg timer to signal when a child’s turn is due.

Staff actively encourage children to engage in self-help tasks such as feeding self, drinking, reaching for an object, grasping etc.Staff actively model strategies to resolve conflict and support collaboration and use simple explanations (both verbally and non verbally) to support the ‘ rules ‘ of the setting

5.1Staff explain carefully to the children what they need to do and pre-empt any difficulties through careful observation of babies non verbal communication

5.2Staff show empathy and understanding when children do not want to follow rules or get upset.

5.3Staff show an awareness of individuals and their needs, giving additional support and allowing some flexibility.

5.4Staff redirect inappropriate behaviour by stating what the children should do rather than what they should not.

Reflection/actions needed:


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Staff know when to interact and when to observe, particularly when babies do not wish to interact e.g. when they turn away or independently reach for a toy. Staff allow babies the space and freedom to move safely and freely in order to encourage independence and calculated risk-taking.

Staff spend time observing children and their preferences, particularly in relation to the development of a preferred schema, and provide further opportunities for babies to rehearse, repeat and practice this preferred way of exploring and learning.

Staff discuss play preferences with parents/carers and accommodate them into the setting, spending time engaged in one-to-one play to support positive attachment and social development.

Staff engage in repetition and imitation, particularly through parallel play and allowing the child to take the lead. They engage in tracking games e.g. moving an object the baby is interested in to support physical development and visual tracking.

Staff provide open-ended resources that can support representational play and imagination, providing a variety of functions.

Staff introduce novel objects, one at a time, and engage with the baby to explore properties and functions to inform future independent choices.

5.1If invited, the staff will join in with the children’s play while allowing the children to lead, respecting the level of play and rules established by the children.

5.2Staff show enjoyment and a sense of fun when watching or joining in with children’s play. They will set up new activities if the children ask.

5.3While the children’s play is respected, the children are, nonetheless, expected to remain within the boundaries/rules of the setting.

5.4Staff provide the necessary resources to enrich and support play, according to the suggestions given by the children.



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t0-2 years 2-5 years (SSTEW)

One to one activities such as treasure basket exploration are regularly planned and provided for. Practitioners make the most of these opportunities to observe a baby's interests and preferences for ways of exploring, e.g. mouthing, banging, shaking etc.

A range of small group activities are planned and provided for that support the prime areas of learning and development, both indoors and outdoors. For example, a range of sensory activities / messy play, listening walks, musical activities, singing, stories etc.

Staff actively engage the children in deciding on a purpose for an indoor/outdoor space and involve them in resourcing and monitoring this. Staff support babies to make independent choices through careful observation of a baby’s gaze, gestures and body language and use these interests to plan for next steps.

5.1Children are involved in making choices about areas/ spaces and resources.

5.2Staff position themselves in areas so that they can see the whole area but also so that they can work with small groups/individuals.5.3Spaces are monitored regularly to ensure there are sufficient spaces/resources in popular areas and to remake, and then support children to interact with, previously unpopular areas.



2. Social and emotional well-beingSu

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0-2 years 2-5 years (SSTEW)Staff are familiar with attachment theories and have discussed this with parents/carers. They actively plan for strategies to support their key child’s mode of attachment and support them in feeling secure within a variety of social interactions.

Staff understand that close relationships with key persons are formed on the basis of who the baby ‘connects’ with. Practitioners let the child know that his / her emotions and feelings are met with empathy, are accepted and reciprocated (if appropriate) supporting the development of attunement

Staff work collaboratively with parents/carers to aid transition and support a child’s social referencing through awareness and sensitivity that the adults responses to the infant will influence the infants ability to ‘read’ social situations successfully

Staff regularly label a baby’s feelings for them and attribute them to a cause/context in order to give meaning to the baby’s efforts to communicate. For example, “Oh dear are you feeling sad today? Shall we have a cuddle to make you feel happy?”

Staff regularly engage with babies in pretend play to explore empathy, as well as narrating the feelings of others and their probable cause including how best to support them or ‘make them feel better’.

Staff have an understanding of Theory of Mind and use this to help children understand others perspectives for example, by engaging in pretend play, narrating, commenting on actions, e.g. “ that’s kind of you to look after baby for mummy ” when playing with a doll

5.1Children are encouraged to express/say what they feel and need.

5.2Planning shows evidence of learning intentions that are designed to support social interaction, including encouraging collaborative activities and play where appropriate.

5.3Children are encouraged to seek an adult’s support when sharing or playing breaks down.

5.4 Staff are responsive to the children’s needs, feelings, and moods. They may play, show liveliness, and have fun with the children, supporting positive emotions.



3. Supporting and extending language and communicationEn

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0-2 years 2-5 years (SSTEW)Practitioners make the most of every opportunity to interact with baby and respond to any attempt to communicate, using repetition and gestures to show that they are trying to interpret what baby is communicating. Practitioners link actions to words, “ Oh you want me to pick you up”.

Staff interpret and narrate the non-verbal communication of a baby’s peers to the baby, in order to help them understand facial expressions/gesture and the ‘rules’ of social constructs.

A range of open-ended resources are easily accessible to facilitate exploration of property and function, as well as grouping and collaboration with adults and peers.

Staff routinely ask open-ended questions and where appropriate provide the child with a timely response in order to model the expectations of conversation and to provide the baby with appropriate vocabulary and concept development.This includes engaging with a child’s home language and preferred communication device such as sign language.

Staff routinely allow children to guide the conversation and relate this to their peers, using co-regulation to bridge ‘gaps’.

Staff engage in frequent episodes of joint attention to support the development of early turn-taking

5.1Children are encouraged to talk to each other during activities and throughout the day. The staff model and support this.

5.2During adult-guided activities the children are given resources (etc.) that support, and are grouped to support, talk.

5.3Staff ensure that each child who wants to speak has the opportunity to do so. They interact with individuals and small groups to support this.

5.4Where children are reticent to talk and/or have English as an additional language, alternative methods of communication are employed, e.g. photographs, pictures, symbols, puppets, gestures, tape recordings from home.


3. Supporting and extending language and communication


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0-2 years 2-5 years (SSTEW)Staff maintain eye contact and close proximity with the baby, allowing them to take the lead and imitate their utterances, facial expressions and gestures.

Staff invite babies to explore an object or toy and use descriptive language to highlight its properties, particularly if it is a baby’s favourite.

Mirrors are used to observe facial expressions and the shape the mouth is making in relation to sound.

Staff regularly engage in turn-taking games that encourage children to listen. – listening walks, listening to music and moving their bodies supports starting to recognise rhythmic speech patterns

Staff routinely engage children in mimicking games, using words, nonsense words, sounds to encourage them to tune in and listen.

5.1Staff position themselves at the children’s height when talking or listening to them.5.2Rephrasing and/or repeating is used to check that the children have been understood.5.3Where meaning or speech is unclear, staff make an ‘educated guess’ rather than asking the child to constantly repeat her/himself. Then, if they have guessed wrongly, staff take the blame for it.


3. Supporting and extending language and communicationwww.essexprimaryscitt.co.uk

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0-2 years 2-5 years (SSTEW)Staff tune into and repeat back a baby’s utterances for as long a period of time as is appropriate, in order to give value to the baby’s communication and to model the constructs of conversation. As part of this ‘conversation’, occasionally words are used to label an object/gesture/facial expression.

Staff regularly repeat back a baby’s short phrases in full sentences, building on the child’s vocabulary using the correct names for items / objects, “ ball, drink, dog”.

Staff habitually use open-ended questions and allow time for thought processes and responses, both verbal and non-verbal e.g. gesture, action, facial expression.

Staff regularly engage in parallel play and ‘thinking out loud’ to model strategies for using effective learning attitudes, emotion and practical problem-solving.

Staff routinely narrate a baby’s actions and utterances into words, with reasoning and where appropriate course of action.

5.1Staff show care in the choice of correct and appropriate terms.

5.2Staff use varied tones of voice to support interest, excitement, express emotions, calm children, and support understanding.

5.3Staff provide running commentaries to model vocabulary and to display their own thought processes for children while they play.



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Staff respond to babies cries and gestures as valuable modes of communication. They provide comfort, to build trust, and model strategies to cope in a variety of social situations. Staff take the time to get to know the baby well so that they are able to differentiate the type of cry / gestures that the baby uses to indicate his / her needs and thus respond appropriately.

Staff actively encourage co-operation and model how to interpret the needs of others in a sensitive manner. Work in partnership with parents to find out particular ways to soothe an individual e.g. being held / rocked, having a blanket / favourite toy and so on.

Staff routinely spend time observing a baby’s reactions to various stimuli in the setting (they may differ slightly to when they are at home), such as noise, people, objects, activity etc. and use the knowledge of the likes/dislikes to sensitively support them.

5.1Staff ensure that most children receive extended individual attention at least once during the session.

5.2Help is willingly offered if the staff feel that children may be struggling with the task in hand.5.3Praise and encouragement are readily given to individuals when appropriate.



4. Supporting learning and critical thinking

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0-2 years 2-5 years (SSTEW)Staff facilitate opportunities for babies to explore cause and effect in a variety of contexts e.g. if a child is interested in placing objects in containers, provide a variety of objects/containers in various locations.

Staff engage in and support a variety of sensory and heuristic play opportunities, observing preferred methods of exploration / particular items of interest and use this to plan for individual next steps.

Staff support babies in exploring cause and effect through schematic play by providing a broad range of open-ended resources; engaging in parallel play; thinking out loud to illustrate positive learning behaviours, such as perseverance/managing frustration and strategies for solving a problem

Staff model and use imitation for babies to learn practical problem-solving strategies e.g. removing a lid from a container, reaching an object etc.

Staff engage in games and interactions, particularly everyday scenarios and routines that include sequence and instructions that build in complexity. Staff know that sufficient time should be given to such an exercise and that there should be some checking for comprehension.

Staff routinely encourage children to engage in repetition, returning to the same resource/mode of play many times in order to consolidate the skills being learnt. Staff gradually add a novel element to the play in order to support challenge but only when the child is ready.

5.1New resources, activities, or challenges are set up regularly. They are linked to the current theme or time of year or children’s interests or schemas.5.2Staff model, support, and extend children’s learning in ALL areas of the setting, moving from one area to the next as appropriate.5.3Staff challenge and support problem-solving – e.g. by posing small everyday problems or inviting children to solve problems as they arise.


4. Supporting learning and critical thinking


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0-2 years 2-5 years (SSTEW)Relate story, song and rhyme to what is familiar to the baby, initially through working in partnership with parent / carers to find out the baby’s preferences.

Staff use sensory experiences, particularly in a natural environment, to explore descriptive language in relation to an object e.g. a crunchy leaf. They capitalise on environmental sounds to explore imitation, nonsense words and mouth shape etc.

Staff regularly narrate everyday routines to model the structure of ‘real life’ storytelling. Staff use songs / music /actions and words to indicate transitional times of the day e.g. “ izzy whizzy lets gets busy “ to indicate tidy up time.

Staff discuss a baby’s favourite story/song/rhyme with parents/carers and incorporate them into a variety of contexts, exploring a variety of resources as representations of elements of the narrative.

Staff share books and rhymes, action songs that put objects into categories and extend this through use of objects/different contexts.

Staff routinely imitate a baby’s utterances during time spent sharing a book and attempt to maintain the two-way communication. Staff understand the importance of repetition / rehearsal and allow plenty of time for repetition of familiar books / songs in different contexts to provide familiarity and feelings of security, recognising when the baby is ready to ‘move on’.

Sharing a book is led by the interests of the child and staff actively encourage them to hold the book, turn the pages, name pictures, predict and relate to other resources e.g. toy animals, puppets etc. The environment is used to promote an interest in books / print by resourcing ‘areas’ of the room for example, books available in the construction area, maths area, mark-making, creative areas.

5.1Staff encourage the children to hold and ‘read’ books or retell familiar ‘stories’, sing songs or join in with rhymes and word games.5.2Staff use props/puppets/the children themselves to support storytelling, engagement with songs or rhymes.5.3Children are given access to props and puppets to support retelling stories and use in free play.5.4 Staff sing and engage in rhyming and word play while playing and interacting with the children during other activities.


4. Supporting learning and critical thinkingwww.essexprimaryscitt.co.uk

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0-2 years 2-5 years (SSTEW)Staff introduce real life problems/scenarios to pretend play e.g. explore making a picnic for a toy being played with.

Staff engage with babies in such a way that gives them the security to engage in independent exploration. Staff engage in co-regulation strategies when appropriate and extend thinking through both words and actions that illicit response to ‘look at this’, ‘try this’, ‘ I wonder what would happen if’ without actually solving the problem for them.

Staff provide open-ended, accessible resources that can be used in a variety of ways to support multi-sensory exploration and the properties/functions of objects e.g. something that rattles, something that can be banged, something smooth/rough etc. Staff facilitate group activities to explore resources e.g. through heuristic play, in order to learn from peers.

Staff provide a narrative with what the baby is experiencing e.g. actions/sensory experiences during heuristic play.

Through observation, staff routinely evaluate how a baby is making discoveries about their own bodies and use this to verbally label body parts, engage in body percussion, set challenges for the child to reach a goal e.g. placing them in different positions to encourage rolling, crawling, shuffling, sitting with support, tummy time, therefore seeing the world from different perspectives etc.

Staff regularly introduce novel tasks, resources, contexts for learning to encourage motivation, exploration and a sense of wonder.

5.1Staff encourage the children to use their imagination and creativity to explore and experiment. They encourage children to bring resources/scientific equipment from area to area.5.2Staff model exploration, excitement, and wonder for children to watch and then engage with.5.3Staff point out, share, and explain the actions and interests of the children as they occur. They introduce simple scientific and exploratory concepts.5.4Science/maths activities are organised so that they build upon previous activities and explorations.


4. Supporting learning and critical thinkingwww.essexprimaryscitt.co.uk

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0-2 years 2-5 years (SSTEW)

Staff understand how to engage with activities that explore concept milestones such as object permanence and communicate this with parents so they understand the role of hiding/peekaboo games.

Staff support children’s thinking through adding new and interesting resources to the environment or by combining resources e.g. play dough in the home corner, small world people in the construction area, modelling different ways to play.

Staff follow the non-verbal cues of babies such as when they show interest in an object and attempt to reach it. Staff provide narration to their actions and encourage independence, whilst minimising frustration e.g. moving the object closer and then excitedly exploring it with the baby.

Staff encourage exploration through ‘real life’ scenarios and repetition e.g. repeated filling/emptying of containers; playing with toys to explore positional language; use of open-ended resources to support imagination and creativity.

Staff share books, songs, rhymes that explore new concepts.

Staff explain the purpose behind a task given to a child, such as watering the plant in the room regularly, so that it may support concept development and provide opportunities for higher-order thinking.

5.1Staff support the children in thinking through what they are doing and extending it through modelling, asking simple open questions, and providing additional resources.5.2Planning shows evidence of learning intentions that lead to activities and questions designed to support or extend thinking and problem solving.



5. Assessing learning and languageU

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Staff use a range of observations of the children’s interest and level of engagement to inform assessments and planning of next steps, for example when a baby is beginning to use simple spoken words to communicate needs.

Staff engage in two-way information sharing with parents / carers / other professionals (when appropriate) to discuss the child’s ability to listen to, respond to and follow simple instructions.

Staff regularly refer to the EYFSS Development Matters document to support judgement-making when assessing development and progress. These judgements are reviewed and assessed regularly over time.

Staff make learning objectives simple and visible, “ we can build a tower, I can see that you like to pop the bubbles, you are learning how to crawl ”

Learning is ‘visible’ to children, such as easily accessible photographs and areas that have not been tidied away, so that they can engage in the assessment and feedback cycle.

5.1 Staff use assessment to inform future practice, plan adult-guided activities and materials/resources within the environment.5.2 Staff share simple learning objectives with the children during adult-supported activities and check whether these are achieved5.3 Staff constantly assess children’s engagement with activities and change activities/resources/areas depending on their use


5. Assessing learning and language

A s s e s s 0-2 years 2-5 years (SSTEW)


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t.Assessment and planning techniques for extension and support should show that staff understand the different aspects of language development. (Taken from P.39 SSTEW)

Assessment should include discussion of children’s developing understanding of spoken language, their development and progress in using spoken language and an assessment of how the child uses their language in play. Assessment of a child’s listening / attention skills should be included in any form of language assessment.

Planning may include the use of specific vocabulary to extend children use of language e.g., “it is a big dog, and the dog is chasing a ball”.

Planning may include agreement of the use of consistent gestures / sign language to support and consolidate language development.

Staff understand that context can impact on language development and will therefore complete assessments in a range of contexts, indoors, outdoor, 1:1, small groups an through working in partnership with parents / carers.

When assessing language skills of children with English as an Additional Language, practitioners should explore the child’s skills in the home language with parents / carer’s.

Staff take feedback from children, including non-verbal, and use this to assess and plan next steps in the child’s learning

5.1Staff observe children’s language taking short word-for-word samples of children’s language during interactions with adults and peers across the setting.5.2Staff assess and monitor children’s language development, considering expressive language, comprehension, and how they use language to share meaning with others.5.3Staff show an awareness that language may vary across different contexts, e.g. home and setting, different areas within the setting, with different members of staff, and with different play opportunities.



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