Supporting children’s wellbeing through practical strategies
Meet Abby Zhong, educational leader at Choklits Child Care in Melbourne, who knows that every day in an early childhood setting brings surprises. Leading a team of 28 educators, Abby wanted practical ways to support their children’s social and emotional growth and manage challenging behaviours. Tapping into School Readiness Funding, Abby led herself through the Building Social and Emotional Skills and Wellbeing course with the aim of embedding social and emotional learning. She and her team explored real-case scenarios, reflective strategies, and hands-on tools they could use straight away.
In this blog, we share Abby’s reflections and experiences, showing how professional learning, collaboration, and a thoughtful approach can empower educators to confidently support every child’s wellbeing.
Participant overview
Abby Zhong is an educational leader at Choklits Child Care in Surrey Hills, Melbourne, Australia. With six years of experience in early childhood education and a Master of Teaching, Abby oversees a team of 28 educators caring for approximately 75 children, around 55 of whom attend daily.
Background and context
With the aim of enhancing the social and emotional learning in the young children in their care, Abby and her team used School Readiness Funding to enrol in Building Social and Emotional Skills and Wellbeing. This Essential Resources course aims to support educators to address challenging behaviours and strengthen the social communication skills of children in their early childhood setting.
“The reason we chose this course was because we do see some challenging behaviour in the centre. We are trying to find strategies to manage those challenging behaviours,” Abby explains. “Currently we are looking for ways to manage the toddlers and the children aged between two to three. We are really looking into this stage because we want to improve the children’s behaviour and social communication skills.”
“The reason we chose this course was because we do see some challenging behaviour in the centre. We are trying to find strategies to manage those challenging behaviours.”
Reasons for choosing this online course
Abby identified a clear need to support children’s emotional regulation and social development, particularly during critical transition moments. Through observation, discussions and meetings, the team of educators noted areas where children struggled to engage and communicate effectively.
“Normally we do lots of observation notes,” Abby says. “During the day, we write down our observations and the educators will talk with each other. We have regular meetings – a monthly staff meeting, also a weekly leadership meeting.” From these meetings, she adds, “We definitely find out more about each child and their interactions with other children.”
Abby highlights the importance of partnering with families so that they reinforce social and emotional learning at home as well. She says that while at first, “Some parents are not really ready to accept what we tell them, once a parent happens to observe a behaviour for themselves – then they start asking us what to do.”
She also notes, “It’s a bit hard to start a conversation with a parent when we need to improve their child’s social and communication skill.”
The course aligns closely with the professional development needs of Abby’s team. It provides practical strategies grounded in the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) and the Victorian Early Years Learning and Development Framework (VEYLDF) principles to support wellbeing and self-regulation in children.
- VEYLDF and EYLF Learning Outcome 2 (and its key components):
Children are connected with and contribute to their world - VEYLDF and EYLF Learning Outcome 3 (and its key components):
Children have a strong sense of wellbeing.
Learning and insight
For Abby, the course offered both conceptual knowledge and concrete strategies that could be applied immediately in the centre. She particularly valued the case studies and visual tools included in the modules.
“I learned lots from the scenarios. The scenarios really gave me lots of strategies to deal with different situations,” Abby shares.
She highlighted the usefulness of visual aids. “I also liked the use of visual cards … maybe we need to create more visual cards for the children to help communicate needs and tasks with them.”
The course encourages reflection and intentionality in practice, which has made a tangible difference to what Abby does. “After I completed this course and managed difficult situations, I knew how to self-assess my response. I now think about whether my reactions are from stress or more intentional.” She adds, “I take time for this self-reflection and consider alternative approaches I can try next time.”
“The scenarios really gave me lots of strategies to deal with different situations.”
Putting it into practice
Abby and her team have applied their learnings through structured morning routines, emotional check-ins and expanded use of calming strategies. Children now have more choice and agency in the Calm Corner, using it as a space to self-regulate when upset. Educators engage children with prompts and questions to encourage reflection and communication about feelings.
“Now during the morning transition, rather than getting straight into group time, we ask the children, ‘How do you feel today?’ and ask the children to describe their feelings,” Abby explains. “When they feel upset any time during the day, we ask them questions like, ‘Oh, what happened? Would you like to share with us, or would you like to talk about it after?’ Now the children know they can communicate how they are feeling to us and understand the difference between the good ways and not-so-good ways to handle their emotions.”
Visual supports and the Calm Corner have become tools they use regularly. Abby notes, “We already had a Calm Corner … Now we prioritise keeping it in the room.” Similarly, the team’s use of visual cards is expanding. “Now we have made lanyards with the cards on for everyone, so it’s much easier to use them to communicate, and we use them much more.”
Abby also encourages educators to “think like a child” and bring empathy to their interactions with children. In acting with empathy, an educator is in effect communicating, “I know how you feel and I’m here to help you.”
"Now the children know they can communicate how they are feeling to us and understand the difference between the good ways and not-so-good ways to handle their emotions.”
Observed impact
The practical application of the course content has led to noticeable improvements in both children and educators. Kindy children are now more able to express their feelings and make choices about their emotional responses. The team observes that children approach educators with requests for support, demonstrating their increased self-regulation.
“The Kindy children are doing really well now. When they feel upset, they will tell the teacher, ‘I want to go to the Calm Corner,’ and they are more open to communicating with the teachers about how they feel,” Abby reports.
Like the rest of the team, Abby is more confident about responding to big emotions. “I have more in-depth understanding in difficult situations, or when big emotions happen suddenly.”
Team discussions and reflections during staff meetings help to embed these practices consistently. They find short moments can make a big difference. “When a parent drops their child off, instead of always starting with a cuddle, we suggest we do something more: ‘I remember you liked doing this yesterday’.”
Daily emotional check-ins with the children have become routine. “At the start of every day now, you hear, ‘How do you feel today? How do you feel today?’”
“I have more in-depth understanding in difficult situations, or when big emotions happen suddenly.”
Reflections and what’s next
Abby reflects that professional learning is essential for staying responsive and prepared for unpredictable situations in early childhood education. With the course completed, she is invested in the journey ahead, aiming to “keep improving myself and improving my professional knowledge and learning”.
She recognises how important this is in an ever-changing workplace. “We have different and unpredictable situations every day – we never know what’s coming. So, as long as we build more knowledge and more understanding about social–emotional skills, and communication and well-being, then we are more prepared to face those difficult situations.”
Looking ahead, Abby and her team aim to continue refining strategies for working with parents around challenging behaviours, while extending social and emotional learning practices across all age groups in the centre.
She highlights the value of real-case scenarios in professional learning. “For this course, if you could put more real cases in, that would be great. You already have lots of real cases in the course, but we never mind having more!”
The experience of applying her professional learning to her practice has reinforced the power of intentional teaching, reflective practice, and consistent engagement in supporting children’s social and emotional development. Further, it demonstrates the tangible benefits that School Readiness Funding delivers for educator capability and child outcomes.
Building Social and Emotional Skills and Wellbeing is a self-led professional development course that is available for both Kindy Uplift and School Readiness Funding. Visit our professional development page to find out more.