Developing Attachment in Early Years Settings: Nurturing Secure Relationships from Birth to Five Years

Developing Attachment in Early Years Settings is a guide for practitioners to help them prepare for the care of individual babies and children in their settings. This highly practical book offers the reader advice on implementing attachment principles in line with the Practice Guidance of the Early Years Foundation Stage and the Early Years National Strategy – Social and Emotional Aspects of Development (SEAD) 2008. Explaining the importance of emotional ‘holding’ and the nurturing of individual relationships within group childcare, this book will help readers develop an understanding of how to:

• facilitate secure attachments from the beginning
• create a secure base for children
• observe young children effectively.

Each chapter includes a personal reflection exercise and a positive contribution to good practice section. With its accessible approach, this book is essential reading for both practitioners and students looking for guidance on how to nurture secondary attachment relationships in group care settings.

Veronica Read is a Group Analyst and an Independent Educational Consultant. She writes and delivers workshops on attachment for Early Years practitioners. She also works for an LEA as a Behaviour Support Teacher in a Specialist Teaching Team and has extensive experience of working with children with social, emotional and behavioural difficulties.