First Emotion Coaching UK accredited Nursery

We are delighted to welcome Zeeba Royal Arsenal in Greenwich, London as our first Emotion Coaching UK accredited nursery. Zeeba Royal Arsenal Nursery is a private day care nursery that cares for 125 children aged from 3 months – 5 years.

To achieve their accreditation all staff were trained in Emotion Coaching by an ECUK Practitioner Trainer. Khilna Shah is the Emotion Coaching lead for ICP Nurseries. Danielle Robinson and Angela Donnelly are Zeeba Royal Arsenal's Emotion Coaching leads. All new staff joining the nursery will be trained in Emotion Coaching as part of their induction process.

Zeeba Royal Nursery included Emotion Coaching as part of the Nursery development plan which includes conducting peer-on-peer observations focusing on the use of Emotion Coaching. Staff use reflective logs to help develop their personal use of Emotion Coaching with children, and parents have been supported to understand and use Emotion Coaching as a style of communication with their children. Videos have been made for parents to guide them to knowing how to tune into their children’s emotions and engage with them empathically.

Royal Zeeba Nursery’s evidence of application was from the Toddlers’ group (2-3 years old). It included photographic evidence of the ‘Emotion Cottage’ - a place of calm where toddlers can go with an adult or on their own to process and understand emotions. The Emotion Cottage has become part of everyday practice in the Toddlers’ Room. The Baby Room and Pre-school Room also have their age appropriate ‘Emotions area’.

The Nursery feels that prior to embracing Emotion Coaching as a conscious communication strategy, their professional practice in supporting children’s emotional development was at a more basic level. Nursery staff now recognise they are much more able to support children’s emotions and their ability to self-regulate. Nursery staff feel more tuned-in with children’s emotions and are better able to give children high levels of support when helping them to understand their emotions. ‘Time in’ with an adult helps children to feel safe when they are experiencing emotional dysregulation, and adults support the children to calm through co-regulation. As a result, children’s understanding of their own emotions and ability to self-regulate has improved.

Parents have reported that Emotion Coaching strategies have helped them establish routines at home, made transitions in the home more manageable, and their children’s vocabulary has developed.

A visit by OFSTED commented on how well staff were tuned into children’s individual needs and emotions and how well children in the nursery were able to express their needs, wants and feelings.