Children and Young People Joint Delivery Board newsletter: March 2022

Spotlight on – Improving the mental wellbeing of 3-5 year olds

Task and Finish Group: Supporting the mental health and wellbeing of 3-5 year olds in Scotland

The Task and Finish Group was set up to develop recommendations to improve the mental health and wellbeing for children 3-5 years. It aims to find more, new and different ways to support, young children and their families more effectively.

We know that for the recommendations we produce to be meaningful, then they have to be in line with what children and families need and want. With the expansion of government funded Early Learning and Childcare (ELC), most children 3-5 years now spend a significant proportion of their time with ELC staff. That is why, the group agreed that we would like to hear the voices and views of young children, parents/carers and the ELC workforce.

We are delighted that an engagement activity will be taken forward by Early Years Scotland in collaboration with the Association of Directors of Education in Scotland (ADES), over the next few months. The plan is to engage and consult with children, families and staff in a range of ELC settings across 6 local authorities. Children from a small number of primary schools will also be invited to participate.

A wide variety of questions will be explored, such as:

• What makes children feel safe, scared, worried, happy?
• If parents/carers are concerned about their child's mental health and wellbeing, do they know where to go and what to do for support?
• Do staff in ELC settings feel they are well equipped and confident to support or signpost parents/carers to other services when it comes to the mental health and wellbeing of the children in their care?
• What do we need to do in Scotland to improve the ways in which we support young children's mental health and wellbeing?

Please watch this space to hear more about what young children, families and staff tell us!

If you have any ideas or suggestions about how you think we could join forces to improve, develop and strengthen our efforts to give young children the best start in life then please contact Early Years Scotland at info@earlyyearsscotland.org

We try our best to use plain English at all times but may sometimes include common mental health terms. If there is language you would like to check, why not use our Glossary?