Child Development

Child development refers to the physical and emotional developmental stages from childhood through to adulthood, where children develop their vital life skills. The rate at which a child develops, depends hugely on their environment around them and genetics. Therefore, development is a flow of constant change and is different for every child. Before a child is born, they will already be adjusting to life in the world around them. From birth to two years old, there will be dramatic changes showing the emergence of motor, perpetual and intellectual capacities. Your child will also develop some language and build some close relationships. From age two to six your child will develop more refined motor skills, showing better co-ordination and control, expand on their language and develop more relationships with other children.

There are three main areas within child development that a child develops skills in. These are;

• Physical development
• Cognitive development (attention, memory, knowledge, problem solving)
• Social & Emotional Development

When your child attends a nursery setting, a baseline assessment will be carried out on your child in line with the Development Matters framework. This will give your child’s key worker a good idea of what your child is capable of and what they need to work on to reach the next developmental milestone. The nursery practitioners will plan and teach developmentally appropriate activities according to your child’s physical, cognitive, linguistic, and social and emotional development stage. Throughout their time at nursery, your child will have next steps updated according to their rate of development and how quickly they achieve their goals. You, as a parent or carer, will be sent assessments of your child every 3 months. Every 6 months you will also be invited to a parents evening, where a more detailed discussion of your child’s progress will take place and you will be given a more detailed report.

If you have any concerns about your child’s development, please speak to the nursery manager, who can arrange a meeting with you and put a plan in place going forward.