A setting that get’s this right will…
- Understand the concept of a growth mindset and how it applies to nursery work.
- Have staff who reflect regularly on their own attitudes, triggers, and responses to challenges.
- Use strategies to build resilience and positive communication.
- Identify ways to model a growth mindset with children and colleagues.
“You have power over your mind, not outside events. Realise this, and you will find strength.” Marcus Aurelius
What is mindset?
Mindset – a person’s way of thinking and their opinions – Cambridge Dictionary
“What are the most powerful words in the universe? The ones you use to talk to yourself.” Karen Salmansohn
Why Mindset Matters
“The problem is not the problem. The problem is your attitude about the problem.” Captain Jack Sparrow
Why do Ofsted say about Mindset?
Ofsted won’t ask “Do you have a growth or fixed mindset. They will see it in:
- How leaders nurture curiosity and learning in their teams
- How staff talk about children, parents, and each other.
- How staff respond to challenges.
- How staff reflect and adapt to situations
Making changes
Making changes needs to start with where you are at right now…
Task One – Reflection on current position
Which level best reflects where you are at right now?
| Promote an open and curious mindset and challenges a lack of this in others | Contributes to an open and curious culture continuously | Somewhat open to learn and occasionally shows curiosity | Adopts a closed mindset to new learning rarely showing curiosity |
Discuss this with your colleagues too and see where they position you and themselves.
From self-awareness you can begin to identify what your next steps might be…
Reflection can unlock further growth
Task Two – How you respond matters
During a recent observation, the room leader noticed that during circle time, several children became disengaged and restless. Afterwards, the room leader gives feedback to the member of staff, suggesting that the session could be more interactive and child-led.
The staff member comes away from the conversation feeling disheartened as they had spent a lot of time planning that session and thought it went well. The rest of the team can sense the tension, and the atmosphere in the room feels uneasy for the rest of the day.
- How would you respond as that staff member if you had a fixed mindset?
- How would you respond if you had a growth mindset?
Consider these options and note down some key responses.
Charlie Mackesey says it well “One of our greatest freedoms is how we react to things”
Reveal some possible responses to the above task here.
- Fixed mindset:
- ”They can do storytime next time if they are so good at it, I don’t want to do it again”
- “They’re just picking on me, nothing I do is ever good enough.”
- “We’ve always done circle time this way; the children are just tired.”
- “There’s no point changing it, it’s always going to be hard to keep them sitting still.”
- Growth mindset:
- “That feedback was hard to hear, but maybe I can try a different approach next time.”
- “I wonder what made the children restless, could I make circle time more active or shorter?”
- “This is a chance to learn and share ideas as a team.”
- “I could ask for further suggestions on what I could do differently or perhaps they might model a circle time for me”.
Try a new hobby – the challenge is in how you react to things too…
If you wanted to try a new hobby how would you go about it? With a fixed or growth mindset. At least if you try it, you know if you like it or not rather than looking back in 10 years time wishing you had tried it. Would you enquire about it, go and watch it, or even join in or would you be thinking:
- What if I am useless at it?
- What if no-one talks to me?
- How do I know that I am truly welcome
But what if it didn’t go wrong?
- What if we go out an have a really good time?
- What if I was really good at it?
- What if those people really do like me
Evidence in action: How My Growth Mindset Led Me to Open Water Swimming
Some key concepts within Mindset
Emotional regulation and Self-Awareness
- How can stress and emotions affect responses to children? Feeling tired, hungry, overwhelmed all impact our decision making processes.
- Getting to know children and colleagues helps in identifying emotional triggers (“What pushes my buttons?”) and hopefully means you can respond before the buttons are pressed.
- It isn’t just about looking after others. The importance of self-care and reflective pauses is vital – allowing time to process the new information and think about it carefully rather than just giving a snap decision. You need to have a toolkit that helps you look after yourself.
- Mindful moments in the nursery day or using mindfulness techniques to help with emotional regulation and self awareness is a great strategy that can support both children and adults.
Resilience and adaptability
This is about how to handle challenges, change, and setbacks positively. And here are some ideas:
- Team reflection: “How can we support each other’s resilience?” You are stronger together.
- Deepen you understanding of resilience, it is about bouncing forward, not just back.
- There are many common nursery stressors: inspections, staffing shortages, behavioural challenges. Because you know about these, you should think carefully about how do you adapt to them. Have a plan for when issues arise.
- You also need strategies for personal resilience: reframing, support systems, gratitude practice etc. Develop some that make sense to you.
Positive Communication & Team Culture
Connecting mindset to the collective tone of the setting is vital, here is what you can try to do this:
- Group activity: Team affirmation exercise, to build stronger relationships.
- Language that builds vs. breaks team morale, think carefully about your choice of words, always.
- Giving and receiving feedback constructively, it isn’t just about support, it is about respectful challenge too.
- Appreciative inquiry: focusing on what’s working and how to enhance it. If you only look for problems, you will be sure to find them.
- Building a “Yes, and…” culture instead of “Yes, but…”. This simple tweak can make all the difference. Try it! Here are some examples to help…
| Scenario | Yes, but | Yes, and |
| A parent raises a concern. | “Yes, but we’ve already explained that.” | “Yes, and I understand why you’re worried — let’s look at this together.” |
| “During a team meeting someone says, “We could involve parents more.” | “Yes, but they never come to meetings.” | “Yes, and we could try short video updates or photo boards instead.” |
| Staff member says, “We’re short-staffed today.” | “Yes, but that always happens.” | “Yes, and let’s prioritise what matters most and support each other through it.” |
| A colleague says, “We need to do something about tidy-up time.” | Yes, but the children never listen.” | “Yes, and let’s think about how we can make it fun or use a song to help.” |
When we say ‘Yes, but…’, we often stop the conversation. When we say ‘Yes, and…’, we keep it growing.”
Be more solution focused.
Examples from Practice
A familiar story?
When I first started working in childcare, I was easily influenced by the attitude of those around me. If they came in negative, I quickly turned negative too. This made each day harder and longer, and meant I left feeling deflated. The longer I worked, the more I became the person who came in negative and turned the mood of those around me. I then began to attribute this negative mood to the actions of those around me, even when their actions didn’t affect me. This also affected my general mental health, and I felt depressed both in and out of work.
Due to this, I decided to leave and went to work in another setting. This was eye-opening. Everyone says “the grass is greener”; however, I quickly realised that it was not. I approached by old setting about returning after two weeks in the other setting. Before I returned, I had a meeting with my provision leader, and we discussed having a “fresh start”. I totally agreed, as I could recognise the nursery was brilliant and well-run, but I was the problem. I wanted to be better and do better. I realised I loved my job and wanted to be the best practitioner I could be.
I began coming in each day with the attitude of “today is going to be a good day” and tried my best to pass this on to the others around me. I felt an instant shift in how my days felt; they went quicker and were way more enjoyable for both me and the children. I began to put more effort into my work and began to form better relationships with the children and staff.
This led to me being chosen to lead a provision, due to the shift in my mindset and increase in effort. This felt like validation that this fresh start and new mindset were working and being recognised. This only spurred me on. I felt my mental health shift in all aspects of my life. This made me want to continue to grow in my work.
Before, I would struggle to find the motivation to get up for work and come back from annual leave; now I look forward to what the day holds and can’t wait to return after a holiday. I find myself putting my heart and soul into my work, thinking up topics and activities that keep work exciting and fresh, and keep the children engaged and learning. Whenever people ask me about my job, I always say, “I love my job; it can be busy and a bit crazy, but I love every minute of it”.
How does your room leader respond to new ideas?
Option 1…
The nursery team has used the same room layout and daily routine for several years. When a new staff member suggests rearranging the learning areas to create more open space to avoid the daily battles of children pushing past each other to access certain spaced in the setting and encourage child-led play, the room leader responds:
“We’ve always done it this way, and it works fine. Changing things will just confuse the children and make more work for us.”
As a result, the team doesn’t trial new ideas, and opportunities to improve engagement, independence, or flow in the environment are missed. The nursery remains comfortable but stagnant, with limited reflection or innovation in its setup or practice.
Option 2…
The nursery team has used the same room layout and daily routine for several years. A new staff member suggests rearranging the learning areas to create more open space and encourage child-led play. Instead of dismissing the idea, the room leader responds:
“That’s an interesting idea, let’s give it a try and see how the children respond. We can always review it together after a week or two.”
The idea and reasoning why is shared with the whole team. They work collaboratively to plan the changes and observe how the new setup affects children’s engagement and independence. After trialling it, they discuss what worked well and what might need adjusting. Even if some parts don’t go as planned, the experience helps everyone reflect and find better ways to support learning.
Which setting would you rather be part of?
Remember
Mindset is not just a personal attitude – it’s a professional skill.
The way nursery staff think and talk about challenges, children, and themselves directly shapes the quality of care and education they provide.
GIST: Good Ideas for Starting Things
- Notice Your Inner Voice: “The way we talk to ourselves becomes the way we talk to others.”
- Mindset change begins with awareness.
- Most people have automatic, unhelpful thoughts especially under stress (“I can’t do this,” “That child always acts up (think of the child who comes to nursery wearing a T-shirt with the slogan master of mayhem do you internally think oh what mayhem are they going to cause us today,” “We’ll never get through today”).
- Practice Daily Reflection: “Reflection turns experience into learning.” – John Dewey
- Early years work moves so fast that we rarely stop to process experiences.
- Regular reflection helps staff notice patterns and learn from challenges and helps them to know what to do when a similar situation arises.
- Embrace Mistakes as Learning: “In early years, mistakes are not failures — they’re feedback.”
- Fear of getting things wrong keeps people stuck.
- Modelling a healthy relationship with mistakes helps children and colleagues see learning as ongoing. Seek out feedback.
Want to Learn more?
- Learn more about why mindset matters in this article here.
- Read a schools take on Growth Mindset here.
- Focus in on Growth mindset for you and your team with this article.