Beyond ‘Professional Love’: How to Implement the Key Person Approach and Build Trust Across Your Nursery
“It’s a privilege to look after other people’s children” - Lauren
What does it take to build deep, lasting trust in a nursery setting? In this episode of Atelier Talks, we explore the role of the Key Person approach, often referred to at Atelier as the Key Family model.
Rooted in attachment theory and steeped in real love (not just “professional love”), in this episode we unpack how relationships are built, maintained, and celebrated at Atelier, from home visits and settling-in sessions to key family time and sibling connections.
You will learn how to strengthen your relationships with families within a nursery setting, or if you’re an educator wanting to deepen your understanding of responsive care, this episode offers plenty of practical strategies and inspiration to reimagine how love and trust can underpin your practice.
In this episode:
- What makes the Key Person approach at Atelier different from standard EY models
- Why trust, attachment, and emotional safety unlock growth and learning
- How we’ve embedded the Key Family model across our mixed-age, free-flow settings
- The importance of home visits, continuity, and relational care
- Tips for overhauling your settling-in process
- Practical staff development strategies to support this approach
- Building strong parent partnerships through openness and community
Standing on the shoulders of giants:
The magic of Atelier draws on foundational thinking from a range of influential Early Years theorists and educators. If you’d like to find out more about the voices that shape our deeply relational, child-centred practice here at Atelier, those mentioned in today’s episode are as follows:
- Peter Elfer - the Key Person approach and the concept of the "stretching elastic" between child and practitioner.
- Elinor Goldschmied - “islands of intimacy” and relational care.
- Jools Page - her research into the concept of professional love in Early Years education.
- Dr. Chris Pascal - for questioning the term “professional love” and encouraging us to simply recognise it as love.
Find out more:
Website and newsletter: ateliernursery.co.uk
Instagram: @ateliernurseryltd
Consultancy enquiries: Contact us via our website
Together, we’ll unlock the potential for incredible growth and learning.
Atelier Talks is a Decibelle Creative original podcast
🎧 @decibelle_creative / www.decibellecreative.com
Keywords: Key Person approach, Key Families, Early Years education, nursery trust-building, attachment theory, emotional development, settling-in strategies, responsive care, parent partnerships, professional love.
Transcript
>> Clare: Welcome to Atelier Talks, the Early Years
Speaker:Collective.
Speaker:This is the podcast brought to you by the Atelier, nursery
Speaker:team, exploring the art and science of early years education.
Speaker:We're here to share knowledge and insights from our unique
Speaker:research led approach. So if you're passionate about
Speaker:early years education, you're in the right place.
Speaker:Let's find out what's in store for.
Speaker:>> Clare: You on today's episode.
Speaker:Welcome back to Atelier Talks, the Early Years Collective.
Speaker:Today I'm joined with the lovely Lauren, Laura and
Speaker:Beth.
Speaker:>> Laura: Hello.
Speaker:>> Clare: And we're all going to talk to you today about the Key family
Speaker:approach and how that is implemented at Atelier.
Speaker:So, Lauren, you have been a
Speaker:parent and an educator who's
Speaker:been implementing the key person approach. So talk me through,
Speaker:where did this come from? Where did the concept of a key family come
Speaker:from?
Speaker:>> Lauren: So I think with most of the things that we
Speaker:implement at Atelier, it comes from like
Speaker:centuries worth of parenting. Like, it's just best
Speaker:practise. We know that humans are like,
Speaker:fundamentally wired for connection and they
Speaker:look, they reach out, don't they, from birth to connect with another
Speaker:person. And we know, and we believe that
Speaker:that fundamental need for connection
Speaker:runs right the way through from their early days
Speaker:right through till the end of their
Speaker:lives. Like, we're always looking for connections. So the key person
Speaker:approach is basically just founded in attachment theory,
Speaker:that a child in a care setting needs
Speaker:one solid base, they need one
Speaker:key person, they need that
Speaker:secure attachment to be able to
Speaker:stretch, their elastic and thrive. So
Speaker:fundamentally, it's just about having that one key
Speaker:person that looks after that child. But it's a bit
Speaker:more complex than that, isn't it? It's not just about.
Speaker:>> Clare: I'm going to pick you up on what you called there, that stretch of
Speaker:elastic. So, Laura, you're one of our nursery managers, so talk
Speaker:me through how you would describe that
Speaker:lovely Peter Alpha quote as that stretching
Speaker:elastic in terms of some of the theory that goes on at Atelier
Speaker:for the key person approach.
Speaker:>> Laura: So I think first of all, like Lauren said, a lot of what we
Speaker:do at Atelier is grounded in years
Speaker:of research. We always talk about standing on the shoulders of giants that have come
Speaker:before us. And Peter Elf is one of those that actually, he
Speaker:talks about the key person and a child having this piece
Speaker:of elastic between them. And when a child starts at the
Speaker:nursery, the piece of elastic is very kind of short,
Speaker:very close to the key person. But as that key person
Speaker:nurtures, loves, supports that child, the child,
Speaker:child's confidence Grows. Their curiosity is kind of
Speaker:peaked in different spaces within our nursery. And that piece of
Speaker:elastic starts to stretch and we talk about actually
Speaker:that child and that practitioner know that bit of elastic is still
Speaker:there, but they can ping back when they need to. So your key
Speaker:person might be in maybe the studio and the
Speaker:child in the garden and they might just need that bit of emotional
Speaker:refuelling or they might have hurt themselves and straight
Speaker:away they know where to come back to find that key person. And it's that bit of
Speaker:elastic that keeps stretching and it's always that, it's always
Speaker:there, it's never broken. it's always part of
Speaker:that, that relationship they have. And I think it's such a lovely way to think
Speaker:about. All of our children are connected with these.
Speaker:>> Lauren: You can visualise it, can't you?
Speaker:>> Laura: M and you see it in practise all the time.
Speaker:>> Clare: I think it is, it's building, isn't it? You know all of that lovely work from
Speaker:Elinor Goldschmied where she talks about those islands of intimacy
Speaker:and actually then if you layer that with Peter Elfer's work about
Speaker:that stretching of elastic. So we're a
Speaker:mixed age free flow setting. So role for a
Speaker:key person at atelier is going to be really, really important, isn't
Speaker:it? So Beth, in terms of that island of intimacy and
Speaker:that stretching of elastic, why is
Speaker:that so important? What is it about those relationships that
Speaker:has that need for that key person role?
Speaker:>> Beth: So I think we look at all of our children and
Speaker:we know that if they don't have
Speaker:those needs met right from the beginning, we know that if they
Speaker:don't feel heard, they don't feel safe, they don't feel trust,
Speaker:that actually they don't go and explore their levels of
Speaker:engagement are so much less, that actually you just
Speaker:don't see that learning happening or those relationships building
Speaker:or even those social situations happening for
Speaker:them. so I think having somebody there that can
Speaker:just tune into that child and know their cues,
Speaker:know what they need at certain times in the day,
Speaker:and I really like, I love watching our key people just
Speaker:do those little like regular check ins. Those
Speaker:children don't always need a massive
Speaker:amount of time but actually just those little regular
Speaker:check ins through the day to know I've seen you, I've heard you,
Speaker:I've checked in with you, I know you're safe, come find me
Speaker:if you need me. Then they're off and they're busy
Speaker:and they are engaged in so many different
Speaker:opportunities that the nursery provides for Them,
Speaker:it's just, it's a really magical moment just seeing that true, profound
Speaker:love for those children. and I think that's where
Speaker:then we pull in those parents as well. They truly
Speaker:trust that process.
Speaker:>> Clare: I think that, that concept of professional love is so important as
Speaker:well, isn't it? And I was a really lovely,
Speaker:under two's conference. It came through from the
Speaker:Bristol Stronger practise hub and they were talking about. Chris
Speaker:Pascal was talking and we love Jools Page and we
Speaker:think all of her professional love is really, really important. But, but,
Speaker:what Chris was saying is actually, why does it need to be professional? Why
Speaker:can't it just be love? And I think it's something that's
Speaker:really, really important for us to really consider. Actually.
Speaker:We have, with the introduction of the funded hours, we have
Speaker:more and more children entering now through a younger age now. So with
Speaker:funding coming in, from this September, for
Speaker:our nine month olds to have up to 30 hours, we
Speaker:have to really think, what does that look like through the eyes of
Speaker:those babies and how does that feel for those
Speaker:babies to be in a setting where there isn't a
Speaker:genuine love, there isn't a genuine compassion, there isn't
Speaker:a genuine empathy for those children? so for me, I think
Speaker:those relationships are absolutely key to everything we do.
Speaker:Crucial.
Speaker:>> Laura: So crucial. And I think that's one of the things I love
Speaker:about being the manager of the nursery is actually every morning watching
Speaker:those children walk in with smiles in their faces, their
Speaker:confidence. They're, so happy to be in a space where they feel loved and heard
Speaker:and supported. Finding their key person, having a cuddle,
Speaker:talking about what they might have done the night before. It's just full of
Speaker:love and it's, it really is
Speaker:just gentle. But
Speaker:I think it's real, it is real love. I love all of the children in that
Speaker:nursery as if they were my, own. And when they are with us, they are
Speaker:my children and I'm looking after them for the day. And I think it,
Speaker:I mean, from a parent perspective, you've had two of your children,
Speaker:haven't you, Lauren, come, through the nursery. Did you feel that when
Speaker:you used to walk in in the morning? Would you feel that there was that professional love or was
Speaker:it.
Speaker:>> Lauren: It's so genuine and I think, like, we've all had different hats on,
Speaker:haven't we? But we can. Most key thing for me is that I can remember
Speaker:those children I've cared for, that I've had in my key family and they
Speaker:never leave you And I think they've, I
Speaker:hope that they've still got those little snippets of, of
Speaker:like memory as well. But yeah, having it,
Speaker:it's a, it's a different, it's interesting. Like being a parent and
Speaker:having that your own child, you'd
Speaker:know how comparable caring for somebody's child is.
Speaker:Like there needs to be genuine love there,
Speaker:like to be able to care for somebody's child as
Speaker:if they were your own. Like, I, I don't. Yeah, I think
Speaker:it's a, like a huge responsibility and like it's
Speaker:a privilege, isn't it, to to look after other people's children. But like
Speaker:they have an impact on your life. You have an impact on
Speaker:their life.
Speaker:>> Beth: It's.
Speaker:>> Lauren: Yeah, it's very, yeah, it's very rewarding, isn't
Speaker:it? But lots of energy invested. But.
Speaker:>> Beth: And it really is, I think at atelier as well. We're so
Speaker:strong on that key person approach. Like
Speaker:every, every child will have their significant
Speaker:person. That person is responsible for
Speaker:the care routines. So they will have that
Speaker:uninterrupted time during nappy changing. And actually
Speaker:it's, it's a, it's a two way
Speaker:process actually. The children are always asked if they want men happy to
Speaker:changed and that's a communicative time for them to share
Speaker:and have stories or do a bit of tickle, tummy,
Speaker:tummy, tickle, and just to have
Speaker:that time together. So they will do all of those care routines,
Speaker:coming together at key family times to share in
Speaker:something special and having that moment together, having
Speaker:lunch together. I think those are the really important key
Speaker:parts of the day that offer that
Speaker:connection.
Speaker:>> Clare: So Beth, tell us a little bit more about how that starts. So
Speaker:obviously at Tilly, when a key person is allocated
Speaker:to have their own children so they have what we call a key family.
Speaker:So those children stay with that key person for the whole
Speaker:of the time that they're at nursery. So we aren't like a
Speaker:normal nurse or I call a normal nurse. I've never worked in another normal
Speaker:place, so I don't know. But actually because we
Speaker:have mixed ages and we have free flow, the key children stay with
Speaker:their children the whole of the time they're at nursery. So how does
Speaker:that initially start better? How's that relationship initially
Speaker:formed right the way through from kind of home visits, I guess.
Speaker:>> Beth: Yeah. So we start off with we're pretty good at making
Speaker:spreadsheets, pulling it all together, looking
Speaker:at the dynamics of children and families and
Speaker:really working that out. Before those children are even
Speaker:in the door. So yeah, there's a really balance
Speaker:between ages, genders,
Speaker:the personality of parents, that you get a feel for them
Speaker:when they're doing their nursery visit and things like that. so that we can try
Speaker:and match them with the right people. and then
Speaker:absolutely they start their settling in session. So, so they get to meet
Speaker:those key people, they have that time to just have
Speaker:conversations, ask questions, get to know each
Speaker:other, what life is like at home. and all
Speaker:of those things that come along with caring for children and to know their
Speaker:routine and then yet we offer home visits. So we go
Speaker:into the child's home, we have a cup of tea with mum and
Speaker:dad, have a chat, we have a play in their space so
Speaker:that that connection really forms strongly, that trust
Speaker:is there, you've been welcomed into that child home.
Speaker:So actually those parents are also saying we trust this
Speaker:person and it really helps to kind of, yeah,
Speaker:get that foundation of trust and relationship
Speaker:there. and like you said, we try to minimise as many
Speaker:transitions as possible so that key person will
Speaker:have that child right the way through until they go to school.
Speaker:Because actually why would you change that?
Speaker:Why would you change something that's working? Why
Speaker:would you add in a different dynamic or upset a
Speaker:routine that's working really, really, really well? and actually
Speaker:we know that that child goes into school
Speaker:with an understanding like of a
Speaker:whole child, that holistic view that one person knows
Speaker:everything about them to share. so yeah, it's really
Speaker:magical.
Speaker:>> Clare: So Laura, on a practical perspective, what does that
Speaker:look like through the day then? So Beth talked really beautifully about
Speaker:the home visit, that initial connection, the development of
Speaker:relationships. What does that then look like as you move forward into
Speaker:practise on a day to day basis with once that child's actually started
Speaker:and settled?
Speaker:>> Laura: Yeah. So when a child would first start the setting,
Speaker:there would be obviously a period of transition for that child. So once they'd done their
Speaker:settling in sessions and they were ready to start, and
Speaker:I always say to the parents this is not a race, we're not trying to
Speaker:get them in in a week. It's all about actually when we
Speaker:agree together that with the child held at the
Speaker:centre that the child is ready to go and they've got
Speaker:an attachment, they feel secure, they feel safe. That's when we go
Speaker:for it. So when the child starts, they will be
Speaker:like we spoke about, a bit of elastic. They'll be quite close to their key person,
Speaker:and they'll Start to get used to the rhythm and routine of the day. One
Speaker:thing as well that Beth sort of spoke about a little bit was the intimate
Speaker:care. So we're very, very strict, I
Speaker:suppose, but actually I don't think strict is the word. But we're very
Speaker:passionate about our children.
Speaker:>> Lauren: It's a non negotiable, isn't it?
Speaker:>> Laura: Yeah, because actually when you think again through the eyes of the child,
Speaker:if I had five different people changing my nappy every day and
Speaker:looking at me naked, I would feel really uncomfortable. So
Speaker:our key people are the only people that change our children's nappies. The
Speaker:key people will make sure they have their bottles before they go to bed. They'll
Speaker:be the one to sing them a lullaby or rock them to sleep and put them to bed
Speaker:so that actually that bond is continuing, the
Speaker:attachment is, you know, getting stronger, but
Speaker:actually that child feels safe throughout the whole of the day.
Speaker:so over time, the elastic starts to stretch, the child starts
Speaker:to explore. And I remember when I was a key person, my
Speaker:favourite thing was it was almost like having a little nest of little
Speaker:fledgling chicks and they would sort of fly the nets, but you'd always kind of
Speaker:be on the lookout for them to spring back. But the pride
Speaker:you felt of them being able to move away and engage in
Speaker:so many different learning opportunities because they had you as that
Speaker:safe base to return to when they needed it was just so
Speaker:rewarding. But being a key person is so
Speaker:much fun because they'll come back to you at lunchtime. we do something called
Speaker:key family time, which is where you will come together just before
Speaker:lunch and they would share what they'd been doing about whether they'd been in
Speaker:the garden digging or one of them would have been painting in the
Speaker:studio, one of them would have been building blocks. And it was so
Speaker:lovely to reunite with everybody and get that
Speaker:overall picture of their morning.
Speaker:>> Clare: I think it is. It's building that word, isn't it? It's
Speaker:magic. But those children have formed such a strong
Speaker:relationship with you as a key person that actually
Speaker:what you've given them are those that real toolkit for life. So
Speaker:they've got their confidence, they've got their independence, they've got
Speaker:their perseverance, their motivation and they're then able
Speaker:to stretch that elastic and make the most of all of the learning opportunities
Speaker:available to them. But you'll see them spring back, don't you? So when that
Speaker:elastic needs to come back in, if they've had a tumble in
Speaker:the garden or actually if you know, they can't quite find the right
Speaker:tool that they need on the woodwork bench. or actually, if they just
Speaker:want to share something that's like a real celebration and a joy and
Speaker:they'll come back and they'll tell you. And I think what was really lovely was when
Speaker:you were talking about that joy of Yorkie family. Lauren, Lauren, now
Speaker:within your role, you're obviously a manager, so it's what I call the grandma
Speaker:touch, isn't it? But you still have free Florence that
Speaker:wants to come and find you for breakfast upstairs, or
Speaker:Isaac that just needs to check in with you. And I think, you know
Speaker:that bit that Lauren was saying, that absolute true attachment
Speaker:that comes in from the beginning is never lost because
Speaker:your role changed. You
Speaker:stopped becoming a key person because you had a whole
Speaker:key family of staff to look after as a manager.
Speaker:But actually, the love and respect that you had given
Speaker:those children is still very much embedded in the
Speaker:relationship that you. You hold with them now. And so it's glorious to see that,
Speaker:can't you.
Speaker:>> Laura: I call myself a key. I just, like, my whole nursery is my key
Speaker:family. All of the children I have these bonds with. And it's so lovely that they'll,
Speaker:You'll sort of come downstairs from doing something upstairs and they'll be like,
Speaker:laura, look at this. Or can you come and see? We've built this, we've built the
Speaker:octopod, or we've just dug this hole in the garden. And
Speaker:actually they really want to share with you. They see you as this
Speaker:person who's gonna join in with them, hear them, listen
Speaker:to them, be proud of their achievements. They're so
Speaker:determined that, you know, I'm going to show Laura this, or I've done this
Speaker:picture and she's going to put it in her office because it's so good.
Speaker:>> Clare: One of the things we've talked about already today, Lauren, is the
Speaker:impact of operations in terms, of some of
Speaker:the practises that we have. So how, in your opinion,
Speaker:having worked across lots of different settings, is the key person and the
Speaker:key family approach at Tilier different to other settings?
Speaker:>> Lauren: I think it's is. We were talking a little bit
Speaker:earlier about how having the child in the centre of everything that
Speaker:we do, and that is how, in terms
Speaker:of the key person approach, is at
Speaker:the centre of any decision that we make. So even if it comes
Speaker:in, even in terms of rotors, really
Speaker:like, organisational operational decisions, they're
Speaker:all based upon what's best for the children.
Speaker:And I think that's why it works. It makes it.
Speaker:I would say it's a challenging way to work. It's definitely not
Speaker:like the most straightforward way to work. It's not like from getting
Speaker:to A to B, is it? You're going on a little detour
Speaker:because you're doing it in the way that's right for that child.
Speaker:I think that's probably why when we look at comparing other
Speaker:settings and like, we have
Speaker:professional debate, debate with other educators, don't mean to say, like,
Speaker:actually, is that the most efficient use of our time or is that,
Speaker:the best way to do things? But we believe it is the best way to
Speaker:do things. It might not be the quickest way, but we
Speaker:always know that. We can always argue that that was
Speaker:the right, decision for the children. So our key
Speaker:people work for long days within the week.
Speaker:So I think that's really key, isn't it? You've got the, key
Speaker:person is the person that greets the child in the morning
Speaker:and then is there throughout the whole day for that child.
Speaker:They don't work a shorter day. And then
Speaker:at the end of the day they're there for that, connection with the parents,
Speaker:which I think is really important too. I couldn't imagine anything
Speaker:worse than being like, oh, ah, Lauren's gone now. But
Speaker:she said that they did this.
Speaker:>> Clare: That's really strange because I remember when, you know, years
Speaker:and years ago, decades ago, when I was kind of key working and
Speaker:actually some of my key children would come in and say, are you
Speaker:going to be still sat with me for tea, Clare? Because actually they
Speaker:knew that we had. Gosh, then shift patterns were early middle
Speaker:slates, early legs, you know, and it was
Speaker:so confusing as to who was actually going to be around. And that
Speaker:realisation for somebody, you know, he's two, he's three,
Speaker:who's walking in the door before their days even started and
Speaker:going, are you still going to be here for tea? Because they were worried
Speaker:about who was going to be there to support them at the end.
Speaker:So I think you're absolutely right. Those four long days really bring
Speaker:that sense of belonging, a real sense of, sense
Speaker:of family for those children as a whole.
Speaker:>> Lauren: And it's being mindful that they slow. Some of our children spend a lot
Speaker:of time in our setting and, yeah, they
Speaker:need to have that security to be able to enjoy it and make the most
Speaker:of it.
Speaker:>> Clare: So, Beth, I know within your role now, you also don't
Speaker:have a key family at the moment, but it's something you feel incredibly passionate about. And I think if
Speaker:I'm probably being honest with some of your most preferred years
Speaker:was when you had your own key family. And I'm thinking about, one particular
Speaker:family that I know you shared with Emily at the time. but talk
Speaker:me through how that mixed age really
Speaker:worked for you. So when you have those siblings together, you
Speaker:see some of your four year olds, really have that sense of
Speaker:responsibility your baby's learning through. Talk me through what
Speaker:that really looks like. because I'm aware for some of our listeners today,
Speaker:they're not going to have seen that in practise and in action. So that's going to be really
Speaker:important.
Speaker:>> Beth: Okay. So starting. It's a real,
Speaker:it is a balancing act. I think
Speaker:we need to really understand
Speaker:the work and the effort that goes into making
Speaker:it successful. because yeah, you
Speaker:are constantly, you constantly have your children on your
Speaker:mind. You're thinking about when your day off is like their
Speaker:backup key person. Are they in? Are they available to
Speaker:them? Are you making sure that they're cared for when you're not there?
Speaker:And then when you are there, you're thinking, okay, right, it's key family
Speaker:time. I've got, this child in who's
Speaker:18 months. I've got this child in who's 2 years, 4 months.
Speaker:I've got this child in who's going to school in a couple of
Speaker:months times. And you're really working out. Okay, what
Speaker:can I provide, what can I set up to get that
Speaker:is going to meet the needs of all of those
Speaker:children but also challenge them as well. So
Speaker:it is amazing when you see your family come together
Speaker:and you've got your youngest children that are looking up to your
Speaker:older children and watching in awe of what they're
Speaker:doing and actually learning all of those
Speaker:like you were saying, those toolkits. So they've got their resilience
Speaker:already, those big children and they're just watching and
Speaker:feeding everything into those younger children.
Speaker:And then you've got your older children that are massive
Speaker:on responsibility. They want to help the younger ones
Speaker:that compassion, that care. It's like
Speaker:having their own little family around them. and they just
Speaker:work together beautifully. so I think it's really,
Speaker:really special, those moments together. And we were saying,
Speaker:only the other day, one of my key children came into the
Speaker:nursery and he is now taller than me.
Speaker:I could not believe it. It actually made me feel
Speaker:really weird because I was like, oh my goodness, I
Speaker:remember you. And you were only in my.
Speaker:>> Lauren: Yeah.
Speaker:>> Beth: And he was, yeah, he was, ah, came on and had a little look
Speaker:around with his mum.
Speaker:and, yeah, those bonds, like you said, just.
Speaker:Yeah, it's really magical to see.
Speaker:>> Clare: I think it is. For me, it's one of those absolute magic
Speaker:between siblings being cared for together
Speaker:and siblings being able to stay together. So the fact
Speaker:that, and I know this kind of goes into some of our mixed ages as well, but the
Speaker:fact that actually the nursery operates
Speaker:as one, so we don't have a baby room, a toddler
Speaker:room, a preschool room, means that all of those children are connected
Speaker:the whole time. So actually when they're dropped off,
Speaker:they can, you know, their pegs can be, next to each other, so
Speaker:their bags get hung together. You know, even just from a practical perspective as
Speaker:a parent, the ease of being able to drop off into one space
Speaker:to one person to know that your children are going to be together.
Speaker:And I think it's. I think it's actually really
Speaker:quite unique in terms of its approach,
Speaker:whereby, you know, what you were saying, Lauren, is that
Speaker:the operations to make it work
Speaker:have to be centred around the child. And I think it's a very
Speaker:different approach to many nurseries where the staff shift
Speaker:pattern would be arranged kind of a month in advance. You know, we're still
Speaker:juggling, you know, where are the welcoming levels of these children?
Speaker:How are their involvement levels? Who settled, actually? Has somebody been
Speaker:on leave? Are they going to need a particular person in on their return day?
Speaker:but actually the children being really, really held at the kind of centre of
Speaker:that.
Speaker:So I guess from a parent's perspective,
Speaker:it's going to be really important to also think about the benefits
Speaker:of them. So we've talked about the mixed ages and the benefits of
Speaker:peer scaffolding and our younger children learning from our older
Speaker:children, both in terms of communication and language,
Speaker:but also in terms of the skill sets that, that they're learning and
Speaker:being sequential, but also in terms of that social
Speaker:side, which for us will always be the most important. But what
Speaker:about it from kind of like a parent's perspective?
Speaker:You know, some of our parents will have been with us, Laura,
Speaker:for three children, four children. so they will
Speaker:have seen those key people. Do they always
Speaker:stay with the same key person? How does that work in practise?
Speaker:>> Laura: You're right. We've got some families who I feel like I've
Speaker:never not seen them. They've never not been a part of atelier because their
Speaker:older child's with us and their new little babies come along,
Speaker:and we Always. Again, like Beth was saying, we look at, ah, who's going to be
Speaker:best placed, which child. And sometimes the key person that's
Speaker:been amazing for the four year old might not be the same key
Speaker:person for the baby. But actually I've got a
Speaker:beautiful family in mind who actually they've got one older girl
Speaker:and one little baby girl and they come in in the morning, very
Speaker:confident together and then they'll go off and do their own thing. But then actually
Speaker:sometimes the older one is just like, where is she? Is she having
Speaker:a nap? Can I give her a cuddle? I'm just going to check on and see if she's okay.
Speaker:But then she'll go off, she'll stretch her elastic elsewhere and then she'll bounce
Speaker:back again. And just the fact they can connect in
Speaker:that way is so important I think for both of
Speaker:them, because they're here all week, you know, they're
Speaker:not, with their parents throughout the day. And actually that connection
Speaker:between siblings is so strong. And if they're in two separate rooms,
Speaker:there was a wall between them, they couldn't communicate. It must be
Speaker:quite isolating for them if they're at home together as well.
Speaker:and the parents, it's so lovely to talk to them because they pick up
Speaker:at the end of the day and the older siblings telling them what the baby's
Speaker:done. And it's really, it's such a,
Speaker:it is just, it is like a family, it really is like a family
Speaker:of just dropping them off with some friends and saying, oh, we'll see you
Speaker:later. And they've spent the day together. And I think that's what our
Speaker:educators are so good at as well, is working
Speaker:alongside the parents to make it, as smooth as possible to
Speaker:allow the older siblings sometimes to sit with her baby sister
Speaker:for lunch. Or actually, do you know what, you can have five minutes together
Speaker:before she goes for a nap or come and give her a bottle with me.
Speaker:Because first and foremost they're siblings, they don't need to be
Speaker:separated. And I think as a parent that's what I'd want for
Speaker:my children is that they were allowed to be in a space where they were
Speaker:heard, their needs were met. If they wanted to be together, they could
Speaker:be together. And I think that's what is very
Speaker:different from a lot of traditional nurseries in the sense that your
Speaker:baby would be in one room, your toddler would be in another room. They might not see each
Speaker:other the whole day. Lauren, was there a point when
Speaker:Oliver and Annabelle crossed over at nursery?
Speaker:>> Lauren: No, but it doesn't. It feels like. It feels
Speaker:like. It does feel like a home though. It does feel. It
Speaker:doesn't. Because I remember being really, I was a bit
Speaker:forlorn, wasn't I, when Oliver went to school, like, and
Speaker:Clare said to me, he can come to tea just
Speaker:like after school, just come, bring him from tea, bring
Speaker:him from school and bring him for tea, like. Because that was,
Speaker:it was for myself as well. It was that emotional anchor of that,
Speaker:like peer support of the educators around him that could
Speaker:help him talk through situations and problem
Speaker:solve anything that happened at school. He could still come, come to tea
Speaker:atelier and have a chat. And he's still through
Speaker:time.
Speaker:>> Laura: But actually your little girl Annabelle, as soon as
Speaker:her brother walks into the nursery, she's like, he's here, everybody,
Speaker:he's here. And she's so proud that her sibling's here
Speaker:and she loves showing him off or following him around.
Speaker:>> Lauren: Yeah, it's funny, the dynamic between the two of them is really interesting, but I think
Speaker:what you were talking about is all centred around trust. I think
Speaker:if you have to start as a parent, settling your
Speaker:baby in with one person and getting your head around
Speaker:that and trusting that process and then you've got to transition to another
Speaker:room, another person. For me, that again, the trust would
Speaker:have to be rebuilt again. But again, I think if
Speaker:you've had one child in the care of atelier,
Speaker:you trust and again you trust the management and you trust the
Speaker:decisions that they would make would be, in the best interest of
Speaker:your children.
Speaker:>> Clare: Some of those transitions as well happen at some of those really crucial
Speaker:developmental stages. So if you think moving into kind of a
Speaker:toddler room, you know, when actually you're two, you're starting to put
Speaker:a train, you're starting to drop those naps, you know, your
Speaker:attachment, theory's all changing. Your hormone levels are
Speaker:all coming through and all of a sudden you know, you're looking for
Speaker:those, you know, the two year old check that's looking for all of that
Speaker:developmental change and growth and
Speaker:actually sometimes that key person might have only been with that child for
Speaker:a really limited number of weeks or months to then be
Speaker:making such a crucial decision around their development and their
Speaker:assessment of whether early intervention is needed. So I think
Speaker:it's really, really key.
Speaker:So we've talked about the trust, we've talked about the drop offs,
Speaker:we've talked about the settling. How else, Beth? talk us through how
Speaker:else we settle and support those families as a
Speaker:whole. So not Just the children. But what else do we do to promote
Speaker:parental partnership?
Speaker:>> Beth: So I think we in the leadership team,
Speaker:we all know that the key person is
Speaker:the apple of the eye in our parents.
Speaker:They can do no wrong. They have an amazing
Speaker:relationship, but we know we are the ones there to make sure that that
Speaker:relationship stays smooth. So we pick up any,
Speaker:like, challenging conversations that we need to have. But
Speaker:also that trust that's built around the key person, there
Speaker:is room there then to support parents. So if they're having a
Speaker:struggling time or they're having some major
Speaker:things going on in the family home, that
Speaker:trust and that relationship is there, that actually they will
Speaker:come in and they will have a cup of tea, they will have a conversation
Speaker:about it so that actually we can put the feelers in
Speaker:there if there's a bit of support needed before it hits
Speaker:crisis point. And I think having those
Speaker:relationships and that trust and it being the whole
Speaker:way through that nursery period is
Speaker:huge for some of our parents. They really trust
Speaker:everything that we do and know that there's
Speaker:no judgement, but we will help them as best we
Speaker:can. I think going back to, as well, that key person
Speaker:approach and it being the same person, throughout that
Speaker:child's whole time with us, it's huge around that
Speaker:safeguarding aspect as well. That person
Speaker:knows that child inside out. So if there's any changes
Speaker:or there's anything that's cropped up that they're not sure about,
Speaker:it's not a conveyor belt, is it? It's not one person doing it in the morning,
Speaker:not picking up on something, somebody else doing it in the afternoon.
Speaker:So I just think it's huge having a. Having a parent
Speaker:trust somebody that much that they're willing to be open and honest
Speaker:about every area of their life and seek
Speaker:support when it's needed is only a good thing.
Speaker:>> Clare: Yeah, And I think it's, you know, that's probably become more and more the
Speaker:role of educators as well, hasn't it? As we've seen, you
Speaker:know, particularly post Covid, where we've seen the health services
Speaker:reduce, we've seen, you know, thresholds of professional,
Speaker:other professionals within, you know, the care and education community.
Speaker:Really kind of, you know, the budgets have gone down,
Speaker:but the need has gone up. And actually how we really support
Speaker:families in that way. And I'm just thinking of one family who was
Speaker:absolutely brilliant. We had two of her children, three with us. and when the
Speaker:youngest child went to school, she came armed with two
Speaker:bags for life, full of biscuits, and she just Said, I think
Speaker:I need to replenish the biscuit drawer. Because the amounts of
Speaker:cups of tea that she'd drunk within, those kind of stuff, seven
Speaker:years of parenting with us had been really,
Speaker:had been shared. And actually whether that was around
Speaker:supporting them with their toilet training, whether it was around sleepless
Speaker:nights, whether it was around transitions in their own work
Speaker:practises, you know, actually all of that had an impact
Speaker:on her family. And so actually, I think nursing was her first, port
Speaker:of call. It wasn't the health visiting team, it wasn't the
Speaker:gp, it wasn't necessarily the people that she'd been to NCT with.
Speaker:It was just actually the people she saw day in, day out, dropping
Speaker:her child off, being able to come in and just go, have you got
Speaker:10 minutes? Can I have a cup of tea? Open the biscuit drawer. And she
Speaker:knew where the biscuit drawer was. She kind of knew it was herself she could just
Speaker:help herself with. So that's kind of some of the
Speaker:serious side, I guess, of the role of the key person and the
Speaker:role of the leadership team supporting that, key person. But,
Speaker:Laura, I have seen you with glitter on
Speaker:your cheeks, sparkles on your dress. Talk with
Speaker:me some of the other kind of,
Speaker:the other ways that we work with our parents to really build that
Speaker:relationship of trust and respect and community.
Speaker:>> Laura: So I think the funnest thing we ever do or we have done is,
Speaker:our family festival, which we run every other year,
Speaker:and we hire out a massive field in the middle of Somerset, and
Speaker:we just have the best time with our children and our families.
Speaker:And it's an open invitation to families past and present
Speaker:and, future families as well, to just come and be in that
Speaker:community space together. There's lots of our
Speaker:practitioners and educators, our. Put on some beautiful workshops for
Speaker:the children. We do flower crown making. There's clay,
Speaker:we've got our lovely pink hair. Clare doing some circus skills.
Speaker:Claire's man in the barbecue.
Speaker:>> Clare: Oh, there's awesome, isn't it? Right the way through to the
Speaker:puppeteers, to the storytellers, to the
Speaker:campfires.
Speaker:>> Laura: The most magical day where, all of those
Speaker:bonds are just solidified even more and you just
Speaker:have fun together. And again, it's, it's maintaining that trust,
Speaker:it's developing that, that sense of community even
Speaker:further. And then, I guess I don't want to say less
Speaker:fun, but less glittering, you know, covered
Speaker:our reconnect mornings where we open the nursery on a Saturday,
Speaker:and parents come along with their children and they can just the
Speaker:Children can show their parents what they've been doing and show it off. They can
Speaker:say, this is what I've been doing or this is where I spend most of
Speaker:my time. And again, it's those educators sitting alongside
Speaker:the families and the children are talking about what their dog's
Speaker:called or what they're going to get for their birthday or I'm
Speaker:having a birthday party, you coming along? And it's all of those
Speaker:extra bits as well that that relationship
Speaker:grows even deeper, doesn't it? It's rooted even further in
Speaker:that respect and trust between the parents and the educators.
Speaker:>> Clare: I think it's as well for us as a leadership team. You know, we spend
Speaker:hours, don't we, really thinking about how we're going to connect with our
Speaker:families. So actually you might have families that will happily
Speaker:come along to the festival and camp overnight. You've got
Speaker:families that want a more formal approach to understand what their
Speaker:child's education and learning is. So actually when you have the
Speaker:reconnect days and you're able to practically illustrate
Speaker:what the learning is that's taken place is really important. Right
Speaker:the way through to communication cafes where some parents can be more
Speaker:involved in the decision making process of the nursery.
Speaker:but I think one of my favourite memories when you think about
Speaker:the key family approach was actually at the festival. there's
Speaker:two actually from the festival where Emily, was
Speaker:there. And so all of the staff are able, for those of you who've
Speaker:never run a family festival. So, all of
Speaker:the families are invited. So our last family festival we had
Speaker:248 overnight
Speaker:campers. and it was absolutely
Speaker:exhausting, but it was the best 48 hours.
Speaker:And at the end of the day, about 7:30,
Speaker:we'd had a storyteller and Michael had played his flute
Speaker:and the fire had been lit and everyone had toasted their
Speaker:marshmallows. And then we gradually tried to
Speaker:encourage the children to settle because we knew we had a whole nother day for
Speaker:them to enjoy. And so one of the things we did was have
Speaker:glow sticks and we pulled together some
Speaker:magic bedtime story bags and the key people
Speaker:went into their tents and they read goodnight story to
Speaker:their key children. And I remember going in and seeing
Speaker:Emily and she was sat on the bed
Speaker:of two of her sibling children that she'd looked after, and two of the
Speaker:children that were camping next to the daughter. That tent had to come
Speaker:in. So you had these four children under four having a bed night
Speaker:story with their key person, all in their jamas Having had
Speaker:the best day ever, and it was just
Speaker:absolutely magic to see the relationships and the
Speaker:love, thinking about what Chris Pascal was saying about not just being
Speaker:professional love, but love shared between them and the trust
Speaker:from a family to enable her to sit in the middle of their
Speaker:bed and see all the awards and all,
Speaker:everything they brought with them. and it was kind of beautiful. And
Speaker:then the very, very next morning, some of the staff
Speaker:who hadn't stayed over because there was a bit of a fight sleeping
Speaker:over and not sleeping over places, had arrived back with the
Speaker:breakfast bags and they arrived back with copious
Speaker:amounts of milk and cereals and
Speaker:bacon and biscuits. And actually the
Speaker:children saw them arrive and they ran across the
Speaker:field and they all sat. And there's this one photograph
Speaker:of Eve on a camping chair, but it's like a
Speaker:camping sofa. And they'd squished as many bottoms as
Speaker:they could either side of her with their bowls of cereal
Speaker:ready to go. And it was a real privilege, I think, to be
Speaker:able to share in those children's lives and to have for some of these children their
Speaker:very first camping experience.
Speaker:>> Laura: I think that really, that really is our ethos and
Speaker:our educators. So, it's not just about it. Being in that building. The
Speaker:love continues wherever we are, whatever spaces we are.
Speaker:It's not just about, you know, the eight or six that this is. When I'm
Speaker:caring for these children is a really long lasting,
Speaker:enduring respect and love and trust between those
Speaker:families. And I think it's just wonderful to see it outside of the
Speaker:nursery wards as well and to see how, how,
Speaker:you know, important we are to each other.
Speaker:>> Clare: So I guess from our conversations today, what I'm hearing is
Speaker:really important in terms of the key family approach is
Speaker:respectful love, trust,
Speaker:attachment. Could you all give me your
Speaker:absolute top tip? For somebody who's listening today and is working
Speaker:in a much more traditional approach, they might have a
Speaker:key person that might just be nominated for that period of time.
Speaker:They might not be in a mixed age setting. What would be the one
Speaker:thing you'd suggest they have a go at?
Speaker:>> Beth: okay, so for me, I think my first top tip is starting right
Speaker:at the beginning. So in that recruitment process
Speaker:and look for somebody that is passionate,
Speaker:cares, loves, and I think, because those
Speaker:are the things you can't teach, so important.
Speaker:>> Clare: Laura.
Speaker:>> Laura: I think I'd go with the settling in process. Completely
Speaker:overhaul all your settling in process. I think
Speaker:you have to let the child lead it. You have to build the bonds with the
Speaker:adults, the family and the child.
Speaker:And we always say that once you've got it right in the beginning,
Speaker:that sets the foundation, lays the foundation for the rest of their
Speaker:time at nursery. So I think strip it right back, get it right
Speaker:back to just stay in play sessions, having fun,
Speaker:bonding together and then you can't go wrong.
Speaker:>> Clare: Fabulous. Thank you. And Lauren, finally I
Speaker:was thinking about.
Speaker:>> Lauren: How just remember that the child isn't in isolation
Speaker:just in any. If you're
Speaker:heading in to nursery today, just think about
Speaker:that child within
Speaker:their network of relationships and
Speaker:experiences and try and key into that
Speaker:and have that genuine interaction with the child, what's really
Speaker:going on with them. What, did they have for
Speaker:breakfast, what did they have for tea? What did they do at the weekend?
Speaker:and then share that from yourself as well. So try and
Speaker:have a genuine interaction. I think that
Speaker:goes really far when you've got a key child.
Speaker:>> Clare: So thank you for joining me again today and thank you for sharing
Speaker:all of your experiences of key families and
Speaker:we hope you've enjoyed our podcast today.
Speaker:We look forward to sharing more with you.
Speaker:>> Laura: Thank you. Bye.
Speaker:>> Clare: Thank you for joining us, for Atelier Talks. If you enjoyed
Speaker:this episode, don't forget to subscribe, share and leave us a
Speaker:review. It really helps us to reach more educators, perhaps
Speaker:parents and early years professionals just like you.
Speaker:For more insights into our unique research led approach
Speaker:or to find out more about our services at both the nursery or
Speaker:the consultancy and how we can help you in your early years
Speaker:practise, visit our website or follow us on social media.
Speaker:All the details you need to find us are in the show
Speaker:notes. In the
Speaker:meantime, it's goodbye from us. Thank you for joining
Speaker:us. We look forward to seeing you next time. Time for another episode of
Speaker:Atelier Talks.
Speaker:>> Clare: Thanks for listening.
