Top tips: Supporting your team’s well-being   

Educating and caring for young children is an incredibly rewarding role, but it can also be demanding and exhausting. Just as we nurture the children in our care, it’s important to look after our staff and support their well-being at work. Explore our top tips for caring for your team.    

Top tips for supporting your team’s well-being   

  1. Take time to be present: Add in some time each day for mindfulness. This is a good opportunity for children and staff alike to take a moment to be present and regulate their emotions 
  1. Show you care: Early years practitioners are experts at ‘leaving home life at the door’ but this isn’t always easy. If you know a colleague is having a hard time, show them you care simply by making them a cuppa when they come in, or by checking in with them at lunchtime 
  1. Random acts of kindness: It’s the little things that count. Make it your goal to do one random act of kindness for a team member each week. Look online for ideas on how to make your colleagues feel special 
  1. Show gratitude: Everyone likes to feel appreciated and have their efforts recognised. Simply by saying thank you to your colleagues for the things that they do and bring to the team can make a really big difference to their well-being 
  1. Competition can be healthy and fun: Events such as staff ‘bake-offs’ are a good way to nurture relationships in the workplace, as well as providing fun. Staff can bake at home or even involve the children and bake in the setting, pitting their cakes against that of their teammates 
  1. Celebrate and share success: Find ways to share any successes across the whole team, whether it be a great activity, a lovely display or a breakthrough in potty training a child. Congratulating one another is a good way to nurture team relationships, as well as having the added benefit of shared ideas 
  1. Provide some variety: Give people the opportunities to try new roles or work with different age ranges (if they wish) 
  1. Ask what you can do to help: Ask your team members if there’s anything you can support them with. It may be they are having difficulty with one of their job roles and you could help by freeing up some time for them. 

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Disclaimer: Activities with children must always be risk assessed, including for allergies or choking. Children must always have adequate supervision. Resources and materials must always be appropriate for children’s age and stage of development.

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