Supporting Children Returning to Nursery Across the UAE

A practical early years guide to supporting children returning to nursery, including emotional wellbeing strategies, routine consistency, and safeguarding considerations for UAE settings.
Apr 16 / Kim Tupper EYFS Training Hub

A Practical Guide for Early Years Practitioners

As nurseries across the UAE reopen, attention often focuses on routines, staffing, and logistics.
But one of the most important considerations is this:
How are children experiencing the return?
For some, it will feel familiar.
For others, it may feel uncertain.
This is where everyday safeguarding practice becomes essential — not as a policy, but as something lived through interactions, relationships, and responses.
Below, we explore 10 practical ways to support children returning to nursery, with clear safeguarding considerations for each.

1. Prioritise Emotional Safety

Children benefit from calm, predictable responses as they re-enter the nursery environment.
This may look like:
• offering reassurance at arrival
• staying emotionally available
• responding to distress with patience
Safeguarding consideration:
Emotional safety underpins all safeguarding. When children feel secure, they are more able to communicate their needs and seek support.

2. Maintain Consistent Routines

Predictable routines help children understand what to expect throughout the day.
Focus on:
• consistent transitions
• familiar mealtime routines
• clear structure
Safeguarding consideration:
Consistency supports a sense of stability and reduces anxiety, which can sometimes present through changes in behaviour.

3. Allow Flexible Settling-In

Children may need different levels of support when returning.
This could include:
• shorter sessions initially
• additional reassurance
• flexibility in expectations
Safeguarding consideration:
Responsive practice helps reduce emotional overwhelm and supports wellbeing.

4. Use the Key Person Approach

The key person plays a central role in helping children feel safe and understood.
This includes:
• greeting the child personally
• providing consistent care
• staying attuned to individual needs
Safeguarding consideration:
Trusted relationships support communication and help children feel confident seeking support when needed.

5. Observe Behaviour

Children may express their experiences through behaviour rather than words.
Practitioners can:
• notice changes calmly
• reflect before responding
• consider underlying needs
Safeguarding consideration:
Behaviour can sometimes be a form of communication, offering insight into emotional wellbeing.

6. Provide Familiar Resources

Familiar toys and activities help children reconnect with the environment.
This might include:
• favourite play areas
• known routines
• consistent resources
Safeguarding consideration:
Familiarity reduces uncertainty and supports emotional regulation.

7. Support Transitions

Transitions may feel more significant after a period away.
Support can include:
• giving additional time
• using visual cues
• offering reassurance
Safeguarding consideration:
Smooth transitions help reduce stress and support positive behaviour.

8. Keep the Environment Calm

A calm environment supports children’s ability to regulate and settle.
This can involve:
• reducing noise levels
• organising spaces clearly
• avoiding unnecessary overstimulation
Safeguarding consideration:
Calm environments support emotional regulation and reduce escalation.

9. Encourage Open-Ended Play

Play provides a natural way for children to:
• process experiences
• express emotions
• rebuild confidence
Offer:
• open-ended play opportunities
• time for exploration
Safeguarding consideration:
Play supports safe emotional expression and helps practitioners understand children’s experiences.

10. Offer Comfort

Children may seek reassurance more frequently during this time.
This may include:
• physical comfort (where appropriate)
• verbal reassurance
• proximity to trusted adults
Safeguarding consideration:
Responsive care builds trust and helps children feel secure within the setting.

Why This Matters

These approaches are not additional tasks.
They are part of high-quality safeguarding practice — the everyday interactions that help children feel safe, understood, and supported.
And when this foundation is strong, everything else becomes more effective:
• behaviour support
• learning
• communication
• relationships

Supporting Your Team to Deliver This in Practice

For many settings, the challenge is not knowing what to do — it is ensuring that practice is:
• consistent across the team
• understood by all staff
• embedded into daily routines
That is exactly what our training is designed to support.

Our Safeguarding Training Pathways

We offer structured Arabic-language training for nursery teams across the UAE and wider region:

✔ Level 1–3 Safeguarding & Welfare
Focused on:
• safe adult behaviour
• emotional safety
• behaviour as communication
• building a strong safeguarding culture

✔ 24-Week Safeguarding & Child Protection Programme
A deeper pathway covering:
• safeguarding leadership
• escalation and reporting
• developing confident, consistent practice over time

🎁 Start with a 7-Day Free Trial

You can explore our training through a 7-day free trial, including sample courses from our safeguarding pathways.
This gives you the opportunity to:
• experience the bitesize learning approach
• see how content translates into practice
• assess suitability for your team

💬 Final Reflection

As children return to nursery, the question is not only:
Are routines in place?
But also:
Do children feel safe within them?
👉 You can download our Supporting Children Returning to Nursery checklist infographic to share with your team and support consistent practice.
👉 And if you would like to explore how our training can support your setting, feel free to get in touch or access the free trial.

🌍 Arabic Version for Your Team

We know many nursery teams across the UAE and wider region work in Arabic-speaking environments.
To support team understanding and consistent practice, we have created an Arabic version of this guide that can be shared directly with practitioners.
👉 Download the resources:
English Checklist 
Arabic Checklist
Arabic guidance