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Working with under threes

There is a broad range of early years provision for children under three within Essex: schools, nurseries, preschools, childminders, crèches and specific sessions within the Family and Wellbeing service hubs. Specific guidance has been developed and published in England by the Department for Education (DfE): the statutory framework for the early years foundation stage.

In Essex we have developed supporting resources to support high quality practice when working with children under three from research information about 'schemas' - repeated actions or patterns of behaviour - to routines such as nappy changing.

In addition to our supportive documents for working with under threes, we have recently developed "Getting ready for your babies". A useful support document designed as a reflective tool to use alongside the EYFS framework, with questions to consider if you are looking to set up a baby area in your settings. This document is specifically aimed at those wanting to open an under 2 years area within their setting. 

Download the guidance Getting ready for your babies (PDF, 1,313KB).

Further resources and links can be found in the Relevant Resources section below.

Schema - a schema is often described as a repeated action or pattern of behaviour displayed by children to enable them to explore and make sense of the world around them. Children use schemas to try to find out how things work through repeated patterns of play and it is important that practitioners understand them and support children's schematic behaviour.

Relevant resources