Creating a sense of belonging – Matt Ellis, reception teacher

Matt Ellis, reception teacher and computing lead at Rosendale Primary School explores the challenge of maintaining a sense of community and belonging between young children when they are unable to be together in person. Matt suggests that while whole class live calls can be difficult it can be helpful to organise sessions with smaller groups of children, particularly making use of the school’s use of Kagan learning. Sometimes when parents see the benefits of these groupings they may even organise similar sessions independently. Other ways to promote belonging for young children include informal play sessions using construction toys like Lego, where children work independently but are able to talk to each other and share their creations.