Develop and promote positive relationships Essay

The importance of good working relationships in the setting. It’s very important to have a good working relationship within a setting because it reflects and promotes a positive environment, that is not only inviting for children but for the parents also. Staffs are also approachable and children will be relaxed and confident and will feel that they are able to trust you. Parents would also find it easier to form professional relationships with staff members, this helps to make separation and transitions easier for the child and parent. It also makes discussing important information about the Childs individual needs or concerns easier. Forming good relationships with other colleagues makes the setting run smoothly, information is easily passed on. The working environment is relaxed and more enjoyable. K2 Relevant legal requirements covering the way you relate to and interact with children and young people The relevant requirements covering the way we relate to and interact with children are The United Nations Convention On The Rights Of Children 1989, this legislation ensures that children are listened to, shown respect and have the right to make choices (within reason). They must be protected from discrimination and have the right to freedom of expression. The Children’s Act 1989 brings together various pieces of legislation; it covers child protection and the responsibilities a parent must adhere to, as well as ensuring that children’s welfare is of a paramount importance. K3 Relevant legal requirements and procedures covering confidentiality and the disclosure of information. The Data Protection Act 1998 requires anyone who handles personal information to comply with a number of important principles. It also gives individuals rights over their personal information. This act covers all information held on paper or computer systems and all organizations that store personal data must register with the Data Protection Commission. The eight enforceable principles that must comply with are: †¢Fairly and lawfully processed. †¢Processed for limited purposes. †¢Adequate, relevant and not excessive. †¢Accurate. †¢Not kept longer than necessary. †¢Processed in accordance with the data subject’s rights. †¢Secure. †¢Not transferred to other countries without adequate protection. To comply with these principles every school processing personal data must notify under the Act. Data Protection within the school is also checked with auditors and ofsted. Any passing on of a child’s personal information to other professionals must have written consent from the parents or main carer, or the school would be in breach of the Data Protection Act. All admission details of children leaving the school are passed on to their new schools, but historical data is kept on the school’s IT Management system. This information is stored under a secure password protected application. The different types of personal data which is held in the school are: Name and address of the child. Gender. Contact details of parents/carer including emergency telephone numbers. Development records/profiles of each child. Observations including photographic evidence on each child. Medical information. Absence/attendance records. Unique pupil number. Within the school any general information such as doctor /dentist or other professional appointments should be shared between colleagues only. We also have a medical room within the main school which contains medical records and photographs of those children who have food allergies and other serious conditions such as diabetes. Again this confidential information is only accessible by members of staff. It is also essential and important when working with children not to discuss them or their family outside your setting. No information should be passed on without parental consent, unless requested by the police or social services. The only time that you are allowed to breach confidentiality is when you are safe guarding a child or in an emergency. K4 Relevant legal requirements covering the needs of disabled children and young people and those with special educational needs. Legislation and the special needs code of practice: SEN and Disability Act 2001: Providers should make reasonable adjustments to include children with SEN e. g. provide / attend training. A written SEN policy is needed. A SENCO should be identified. Education Act 1944: Children with special needs should be educated alongside their peers. The views of parents should be recognized. Children’s handicap should be diagnosed. Disability Discrimination Act 1995. Those who provide goods and services to the public must make sure that they do not discriminate against those who have a disability, including children who may have learning or physical difficulties or long term illness. Code of Practice 1994. A five stage process to assess a child’s special needs is identified. If needed a statement is written to say how those needs will be met. Code of Practice 2001. A staged system of assessment consisting of Action and Action plus is introduced to support children whose needs may not require a statement or to contribute to the process of statementing. Education Act 1989. Children with disabilities should be educated in mainstream schools wherever possible. Health, education and social services should work together to asses a child’s needs. Children’s Act 1989. Every local authority should provide services for children with special educational needs in their local area. Early identification of special needs is important. K5 The types of information that should be treated confidentially: who you can and cannot share this information with. Who should have access to any records? Head teacher, teacher, parents/carers, Ofsted, SENCO, Social services and other professionals. 2. Where should records be stored? Records are stored in secure cabinets. In a software package. These records are on the individual teacher’s laptops which are password protected and stored in a central storage room overnight. All back up discs are also stored in secure cabinets. 3. How can records be checked for accuracy? External moderators from the Local Educational Authority check the software for accuracy and EYFS profiling. Regular meetings with current examples of tracking and profiles take place between the school and the moderators. 4. Who should be allowed to carry out observations and assessments? Teacher, Key person, SENCO and assessors. 5. Who can give permission for observations and assessments to take place? Written permission forms are signed by parents/carers at the start of the academic year for all new children attending the school, this also covers photographic observations/evidence. K6 The meaning of anti-discriminatory practice and how to integrate this into your relationships with children and other adults. It is paramount that all children and families feel that the setting is welcoming, non-threatening and that they are respected and valued. These means that all practitioners should have excellent communication skills and have the ability to listen carefully, question, understand and respond in a positive manner. Developing and building a trusted two way relationship means that you will be able to support both the family and child throughout their time in your care. The school also promotes that all individual children are given equal access to the school’s curriculum, care, moral and spiritual input, sports, arts and play opportunities. This support also includes the children being healthy, safe, enjoying and achieving and; making positive contributions to the community and society. A SEN register is held in school of all children who have been identified as having special needs. Other registers record different circumstances which may affect children’s access to the curriculum such as English as an additional language, medical needs, gifted and talented. K7 How you adapt your behaviour and communication with children to meet the needs of children in your care of different ages, genders, ethnicities, needs and abilities. It is still essential with this age group of children and young people to build on good relationships; they will be experiencing many physical changes and may feel anxious about puberty. Adults need to able to listen and be sensitive to the changes they are going through. It is vital that they have positive adult relationships, with an adult who can listen carefully, are sensitive, non-judgmental and have empathy to their individual needs. Within this age group they face far more peer pressure, wanting to fit in with their peers, feeling concerned about their outward appearances, even facing issues such as sex and experimentation with alcohol and drugs. Having a good relationship away from a family member where the children or young people can feel that they can express their own views and opinions and be respected and spoken to as an equal over important issues in their lives is paramount. Therefore they still require an adult who can give them advice, reassurance, praise and encouragement and understand their needs. K8 Strategies you can adopt to help children to feel welcome and valued in the setting. I ensure that all children in my setting are given the opportunities to play with an activity of their choice and that their views and beliefs are listened to. All children must be praised and encouraged, valued and listened to. I make them feel welcome and valued by being a positive role model and by taking an interest in what they do and say. K9 What is meant by ‘appropriate’ and ‘inappropriate behaviour when interacting with children, the policies and procedures to follow and why these are important? The school’s policies and procedures all members of staff must have a full and active part to play in protecting all pupils from harm, and at all times the children’s welfare is of paramount concern. We should all be working together to provide a caring positive and stimulating environment that promotes the social, physical and moral development of all the individual children. All members of staff are expected to develop their performance portfolios and undertake annual performance management meetings to improve on their teaching standards. The importance of following the school’s policies and procedures in appropriate behaviour are that you are contributing to the overall ethos and aims of the school and safe guarding the children. Helping to promote inclusion and acceptance of all pupils and encouraging interaction with others. Appropriate behaviour helps to develop the children’s confidence, self esteem, resilience and independence giving them a feeling of being respected and valued. Inappropriate behaviour from members of staff could result in the children lacking in confidence and lowering their self esteem. The children we feel that their views and opinions are not respected or valued. The children will become less independent and it will promote bad behaviour resulting in an environment where they will not learn or feel safe. Using unprofessional behaviour when interacting with children could become a child protection issue. Therefore it is inappropriate to be too personal or give personal information to the children in your care. K10 The importance of encouraging children to make choices for themselves and strategies to support this. By encouraging children to act in this way you are helping them to develop and make them become aware of their own needs and areas of improvement. This can be done by allowing the child to try and solve problems or necessary decisions before advice is given. Options can be given to the child to help them choose a path to take K11 The importance of involving children in decision-making and strategies you can use to do this. Within the foundation stage, the overall area is split into specific activities such as role play, home corner, writing table, messy area, quiet area and the outside area. The children can make decisions on when, how and for how long they stay at an activity. With all of the activities, there will be under pinned planned learning intentions and outcomes, some of which will have adult led or adult engagement involved. By letting the children play independently and by not interfering or leading the play, the children will develop social and emotional skills and learn to play alongside others or co-operatively. It enhances their imagination and creativity, develops communication and language skills as they work through ideas and concepts, also enabling the children to take risks and make mistakes and learn through their experiences. In involving the children in decision-making it will build on their confidence and self esteem and they will feel that their views and feelings are valued. K12 How to negotiate with children according to their age and stage of development. The first step in negotiation is to ask ‘what don’t you want to do and why. ‘ Using age related language, experience of the situation, the child and or children will in general be able to come to or reach an outcome. All children need choices it is not age specific, it depends on what level they are at in their development and understanding, for the choices that you give them. For example under 3 year olds, Its tidy up time, ask them to tidy away three things, give them a choice of what three things they are going to pick up. With children 3 years of age and over they start to learn for themselves about negotiating through their play by figuring out what the rules are, who’s going to go first, sharing toys and activities. As children get older it is important for them to be involved in negotiating and decision-making as it develops their ability to become responsible, understand consequences and prevents them from feeling excluded and powerless. Giving children choices puts the responsibility and power back into their hands. Within a school there are several ways in which you can negotiate with the children, including rewards such as stickers for those children who can undress independently for PE. For example if a few children who refuse to get changed, rewarding them with a sticker encourages them to try to undress independently or with our support. Maybe reward house points for good behaviour in following our ‘rules’ or trying really hard and working at their best ability. In the outside area we time the use of the bikes, scooter and cars so that all the children have a turn. We ensure that all the children have a choice of independent or adult led activities. When negotiating we are consistent with our actions and give the children explanations and consequences and listen to their views and feelings. K13 Strategies you can use to show children that you respect their individuality Keys to good practice: Provide activities that encourage self-expression. Provide opportunities within the foundation stage in creative development for the children to express themselves in exploring different media such as painting, drawing and modelling. The children can develop their imagination and expression in songs, music and dance, imaginative play and role play. Celebrate diversity by learning about each other’s culture, religion and beliefs. Encourage the children to listen and talk to each other in our weekly show and tell activity where the children can share a special toy, achievement or a special outing with us and their peers. Provide open-ended activities that children can put their own ‘stamp’ on. Allow the children free flow play where they can make up their own rules and games by providing different areas for role play and activities. Have independent activities based around our themed topics in which the children can expand on such as ‘buildings’. The children make 3D and 2D â€Å"Three little pigs† houses which is an adult led activity. By allowing them different mediums the children independently made houses by chalking out a town in our outside area, making houses with constructions toys, junk modelling, tents, and building their own using building bricks and homemade cement. Avoid comments that single children out as being different. Ensure that we listen and talk to the children include them in choices and decision making, acknowledge their interests and abilities by respecting their backgrounds, experiences and culture. Acknowledge children’s particular strengths and talents. Ensure that you respond to the children in different ways depending on their personalities. We share achievements or talents in special assemblies where the children can show their certificates or their talents to the rest of their peers. Show interest in things that the children enjoy doing. By knowing the children really well you can encourage them to try a new way of completing an activity such as if you know a child likes painting try to persuade them to try a different medium like a collage or junk modeling to create a picture. K14 How to balance the needs of individual children with those of the group as a whole. Within the setting daily routines of which the children have to adhere to such as registration and weekly timetable to adhere to. The school’s planning process involves grouping the children together by learning ability, style, physical and social groups and the teaching resources and levels are matched and deployed to deliver different styles of teaching to these different groups. K15 The importance of clear communication with children and specific issues that may arise in bilingual and multilingual settings All communication is a two way process and it is paramount when working with children that you listen carefully, question, understand and respond in a positive manner to what is being communicated to you. This will give the children the fundamental skills to take part in family life, school, employment and social activities. Within the setting we provide opportunities for the children to development their communication and language skills by different activities: It is important to give children clear communication and sufficient time to express themselves. †¢Showing our understanding and respect. †¢Giving children confidence and self esteem. †¢Encouraging independence. †¢Children can express their feelings and views. †¢Encourages socialising skills. †¢Gives children choice. †¢Showing we understand their needs. †¢Develops their language and communication skills. Also within our setting we have several children who are bilingual and multilingual with two or more languages these children have extra weekly support from our EAL co-ordinator. With these children we also ensure that we give clear and understandable instructions and in some cases use hand gestures or picture clues to help with their understanding. K16 Why it is important for children to ask questions, offer ideas and suggestions and how you can help them do this †¢It makes them feel part of the school. †¢They can have their say. †¢Gives the children a sense of responsibility. †¢Encourages their independence and confidence. †¢They will have a sense of belonging and pride in their school. †¢The children’s views and opinions are being listened to. †¢They will look after the new area or equipment (respect it). †¢Gives the children choices. †¢Builds relationships. †¢Develops their communication and language skills †¢They feel respected and valued. †¢They will explore and experience different activities / environments. †¢Develops their knowledge and understanding of the world. I feel that this is important to include the children in decisions about their environment, activities and learning opportunities because it gives them a sense of responsibility, independence and they will feel respected and valued. We do this by ensuring that the children have time to ask questions in a relaxed and natural way throughout their school day. K17 Why it is important to listen to children? It is important to listen to children so they know that you are interested in what they say and that you care for them. You also get to learn about the child when they are talking to you, for example if you need to help them with their language development or help them in their learning. †¢The children will feel that you are not interested in them. †¢Demonstrates that you are a role model to the children. †¢It builds the children’s self esteem and confidence. †¢It builds on good relationships with the children and other adults. †¢The children feel respected and will be happy to share suggestions and decisions. †¢Develops the children’s communication and language. †¢Helps the children to learn socialising, negotiation skills and independence. †¢The children may need to disclose a safeguarding incident. †¢It shows that we understand the children’s needs. K18 How to respond to children in a way that shows you value what they have to say and the types of behaviour that could show that you do not value their ideas and feelings. All children respond well to positive reinforcement of expected behaviour boundaries. By just giving general statements such as â€Å"do not interrupt† or â€Å"well done† does not reinforce or teach good values. Also by asking open questions you can demonstrate that you are listening to the child and or children and giving them time to express their feelings, views and opinions. K19 The importance of being sensitive to communication difficulties with children and how to adapt the way you communicate to different situations. Communication difficulties with children: †¢Hearing difficulties or deaf. †¢Poor vision or blind. †¢Ill health. †¢Special educational needs. †¢Physical disability. †¢Poor language skills or English as an additional language. †¢Disruptive child. †¢Speech problems. Cultural Differences and English as an additional language 1. Smile and have friendly facial expressions. 2. Use hand gestures to gain understanding. 3. Use pictures. 4. Show warmth and encouragement. 5. Use culturally relevant learning materials. 6. Group EAL co-ordinator who shares the same home language. 7. Have some key words in their home language. 8. Use translator. 9. Always treat children with respect and as individuals. 10. Ensure that you take into account their cultural differences, their life experiences and the way they prefer to communicate. 11. Respond appropriately to their non-verbal communication. Hearing impairment 1. Ensure that you always speak clearly and listen carefully. 2. Remove all distractions. 3. Always check and ensure hearing aids are working. 4. Use written communication if age appropriate. 5. Use sign language if and when appropriate. 6. Use a trained interpreter if a high level of skill is required. 7. Explain things using short, clear sentences and draw or use pictures, as required, to illustrate what you mean. 8. Use physical objects when learning new words or concepts. 9. Ensure the child as your full attention and that you maintain eye contact. Visual impairment 1. Use methods of multi-sensory interactions such as touch, sounds and smell. 2. Use different tones of voice with lots of expression. 3. Do not rely on non-verbal communication. 4. Use environmental sounds. 5. Develop routines when interacting with the child, such as using their name and touch in a consistent manner. Have clear signals that show the beginning and the end of your exchanges. 6. When explaining an activity or object ensure all visual communication is clear and understandable. Physical and learning Disabilities 1. Use alternative and augmentative communication such as hand gestures and eye pointing. 2. Use visual aids such as communication boards or displays, photographs, drawings and symbols to represent words or activities. 3. Use chat books or photograph album containing photographs, pictures, symbols, words and messages. 4. Use speech generating devices such as communication boards or displays on a machine which speak a message when a particular button is pressed. 5. Use spelling, using an alphabet board or typing device to spell out words and messages. 6. Use formal signing or signing which is particular to an individual. 7. Use object symbols that include normally objects or small versions of objects which represent an activity, object or person. Such as a set of car keys can represent it is time to go in the car. 8. Use a multi-sensory approach when providing information and learning taking into account the five senses and present information and activities in a different way enhancing learning and involving the children by doing, touching and seeing. 9. Ensure that your surroundings are appropriate and accessible. 10. Judge correct level of understanding. 11. Respond at the correct level repeating information when necessary. 12. Be prepared to wait and listen carefully. These children can be supported by: †¢Senco. †¢Parents. †¢Children under two by the health visitor. †¢EAL co-ordinator. †¢Other professionals †¢Nurture assistant. In terms of our physical environment we have no children with visual or speech impairments or with physical disabilities within the current foundation stage. So therefore we have no need of changing our different areas to accommodate any of these children. I would ensure that we accommodated these children by ensuring that the environment was spacious and accessible, bringing activities to their level or the floor. I would also use more visual and tactile aids. K20 How you can help the children to understand the value and importance of positive relationships with others. Within our school we encourage the children to develop positive relationships with others by praising good behaviour and following our rules. We act as positive role models such as praising nice manners. I have a rule for example, that if you accidently kick a ball over the fence I will let the children retrieve it if they can ask me with lovely manners. If they don’t ask nicely I make them wait and think about what would be a polite way of asking to retrieve the ball, thus instilling positive and desired behaviour. K21 The importance of children valuing and respecting other people’s individuality and how you can encourage and support this. †¢Act as a role model showing that you respect others individuality, feelings, views, ideas and cultures. †¢Have positive images and toys, books and dolls within your setting. †¢Have activities that encourage negotiation, sharing and building on relationships. †¢Demonstrate positive behaviour. †¢Have activities which encourage the children to talk to, listen and find out about others. K22 Why it is important for children to understand and respect other people’s feelings and how you can encourage and support this. †¢Stops the children’s frustration. †¢The children will feel that their feelings are being viewed. †¢Encourages empathy and social skills. †¢Encourages and promotes positive and expected behaviour. †¢Builds relationships. †¢Develops the children’s communication and language. †¢Develops personal, social and emotional skills. †¢Develops the children’s knowledge and understanding of the world. K23 Why it is important to be consistent and fair in dealing with positive and negative behaviour. †¢Being consistent and fair the children will understand right and wrong. †¢The children will understand expected behaviour boundaries and rules. †¢The children will understand consequences. †¢The children will understand that you are not showing favouritism. †¢The children will understand what is acceptable and what is not. Within my setting we reward positive behaviour with praise and other recognition such as house points and stickers. This is done in the presence of the child’s peers to encourage and reinforce positive and desired behaviour. With negative behaviour, if safe to do so we give no attention as it is often a play by the child for your attention. However, some unsafe and disruptive behaviour must be addressed immediately in a consistent and fair manner. K24 Strategies you can use to encourage and reinforce positive behavior Children may have negative behaviour due to: 1. Lack of sleep. 2. Feeling unwell. 3. Problems at home. 4. Sibling rivalry. 5. Tension at home. 6. Some children do not know how to play with others. 7. Bored and frustrated. 8. Lack confidence in socialising with others. We acknowledge positive behaviour and give reasons behind any boundaries such as we walk in school because we might fall over and hurt ourselves or others. We are consistent and fair by rewarding praise, house points and stickers for following the rules. We control negative behaviour by reinforcing and reminding the children of our rules. K25 Strategies you can use to challenge and deal with different types of behaviour which are consistent with your organisation’s policies The school policy aims and expectations are that every member of the school community feels valued and respected and that each person is treated fairly and well. The school’s policy encourages and promotes good relationships and that we work together to help everyone learn. We also aim to help the children grow in a safe and secure environment and for them to become positive, responsible and increasingly independent members of the school community. The school’s main ethos is to reward good behaviour as it believes that this will develop an environment of kindness and co-operation. The school employs sanctions to negative behaviour which are appropriate to each individual child, taking into consideration each child’s needs and the issue. The role of members of staff are to ensure that the rules are enforced in their class, that each individual child is treated fairly and consistently, to monitor repeated incidents and to seek advice from appropriate leadership team if necessary. We also use behaviour observations to help us understand the needs of the individual child such as requiring extra support from key worker, SENCO, EAL Co-ordinator, Management or other professionals. We also use different strategies and resources such as SEAL (Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning) to help individual children with their behaviour. K27 Why it is important to encourage and support positive relationships between children and other adults in the setting and strategies you can use to do this †¢It demonstrates that you are showing respect and sensitively. †¢Promotes good and positive behaviour. †¢Act as a role model for the children. †¢Promotes good communication in a caring and clear way. †¢It promotes good manners. †¢The children feel that they are listened too and that you value what they have to say. †¢It creates a positive atmosphere and environment where the children feel welcome and valued. †¢Promotes a friendly, consistent environment where the children will feel their views are worthwhile. †¢Ensure that you always give reasons and take time to explain your thoughts and actions. The main strategies that we use in the school are we work very closely in a team in the Foundation Area; we have a consistent approach with dealing with the children’s behavioural issues. We encourage the children to interact and build on relationships with all of us by acting as role models and by reinforcing our key rules. We also spend time with all the children across both classrooms in teaching and delivering our planned activities each week including taking phonics sessions, guided reading sessions, show and tell, PE and music, key person story time and supervision of the outside area. We have effective communication across the team to enable us all to keep up to date with any issues such as medical conditions, negative behaviour incidents, records of ongoing assessments / observations, developmental progress and achievements of the children in our care. K28 Why positive relationships with other adults are important. As a practitioner it is important that you maintain and have positive relationships with all adults that you come in contact with to support and develop the children in your care to grow into secure, confident and happy people. Having collaboration and support from parents, colleagues and other professionals will enable you to develop strong relationships which will enhance and benefit the children by demonstrating positive and desired behaviour. The children will cope better with transitions from home to school, to new classroom, to new staff and or support from other professionals. K29 Why it is important to show respect for other adults’ individuality and how to do so ? It’s important to respect other