Hampshire House 

Hampshire Friends-Connections & Collaboration

In these first few weeks of 2024 our children have been settling beautifully into their new rooms, reconnecting with old friends, meeting new friends and building connections with their new teachers.

Making friends is an essential part of growing and developing. Having friends reduces stress, helps children to navigate challenging experiences and builds confidence and self-esteem.

At the core of the Reggio Emilia approach that we are inspired by at Hampshire House is a belief that a child develops and learns, not in isolation but rather by interacting and developing with others. This brings with it an emphasis upon collaboration and building and sustaining relationships. Social learning plays a critical role in ‘making learning meaningful’ and the Reggio approach sees the environment as ‘acting as a third teacher’. When we think of the school environment it is important to look beyond the physical environment alone, and recognise that a school consists of teachers, children and a wider community and it is the collaboration and input of each, which allows us to be responsive to the needs of our children, recognising the important role that relationships play in contributing to children’s thinking, questions, interests and curiosities.

Whilst for some children making friends comes easily, for others, they need some assistance to manage friendships and we can assist these children by helping them to develop positive social skills from an early age. From the time our children are babies and toddlers we are encouraging and supporting them to understand the importance of sharing, taking turns, listening to one another and building empathy for the feelings of others. Some children are naturally shy and so providing them with opportunities to build confidence and self-esteem through drama, dramatic play and even intentional modelling, can greatly assist these children in initiating conversations and friendships. Teaching our little ones to have “gentle hands’ and ‘kind hearts’ helps them to understand how to treat a friend and make them aware that arguments between children may occur but providing them with the tools they need to learn about compromise, forgiveness and negotiation, if they are to be a good friend to others. 

The relationships that children make in these Preschool years can offer lifelong friendships, which builds your child sense of self-worth, belonging and wellbeing. In the words of  Winnie the Pooh “A day without a friend is like a pot without a single drop of honey inside”. 

Here’s to the sweet joy of childhood friendships and a wonderful 2024!

Ms Simone Cooke

Director Hampshire House