Screen Use Guidance

Screen Use: How to limit children’s screen use in settings and ensure it supports children’s learning and development.

Screen use within Ladybirds Pre-school will be limited, carefully planned and clearly linked to intended learning aims. We aim to teach the children about our technologically diverse world by talking to them in an age-appropriate way about different types of technology and how to use them safely.

If we do use a screen (tablet, iPad, computer, tv, DVD) we will consider how this screen use fits into the children’s day and routine, ensuring it does not displace important activities such as sleep, physical activity, time outdoors, story time, and engagement with other children and adults. We understand and are aware that screens should not, and will not, replace high-quality educator-child interactions, as direct human interaction provides a much richer experience for children. A story, nursery rhyme or song on a screen cannot match one told and performed by an engaged adult who makes eye contact with the children, uses different voices and facial expressions, and changes pace, volume and emphasis in response to children’s reactions.

To ensure we are demonstrating good practice, when using a screen will we ensure it involves adults co-engaging with children, prompting children to think, predict, respond or discuss, and avoid activities which provide an automatic response without any effort on the part of the child. This will be achieved by using techniques such as commenting, narrating, describing and open-ended questioning to stimulate conversation with children when using screens.

Practical tips that all staff at Ladybirds will follow are:

• do not allow children to view screens in a passive or sedentary way, without any interaction or communication from educators
• only use screens with children for short periods at a time, to protect children’s ability to focus and concentrate
• screen-free zones: consider designating certain spaces in your setting as permanently screen-free to protect social interaction and learning
• avoid using screens with children during mealtimes or within an hour of a sleep period, as this could affect their sleep quality
• don’t have screens on in the background, as they can distract from activities such as social interaction and active play
• avoid using screens for routine management or to calm children, as this impacts on children’s ability to learn to self-regulate - screens should also not be used to occupy children (including during periods of transition throughout the day) or manage their behaviour

As always we want to work with parents and carers around the use of screen time, and here is a link for guidance: Baby and toddler screen time guidance - Best Start in Life.

Screen use at Ladybirds Pre-school

On a day-to-day basis digital devices support the successful running and management of Ladybirds Pre-school, including engaging with parents and professional services. We use tablets to conduct some assessments of children when we link observations to Birth to Five Matters. However, these links do not involve asking a child to do activities on a screen to determine their level of development and are based on our observation and our professional judgement.
We ensure that when we take photos of the children and write up observations on the iPad to share with parents that the screen use is proportionate, conducted in short stints and does not entail prolonged breaks from interaction with children, nor require excessive administrative burden, to maintain focus on time to engage with and teach children.

For safeguarding purposes,  we ensure that we only keep the number of images or videos taken of children to a minimum, including for assessment purposes, and only share images or videos of children with their parents through technically secure methods via tapestry and they are deleted weekly (please see our online safety policy and our GDPR policy for more details)

With adult support and guidance, we may allow children to look at iPad to google questions they have raised during their play to further their knowledge and understanding (for example animals in the wild, what a real volcano looks like) During celebration week we use a large cinema screen to show an appropriate children’s movie for “cinema day” – this would be clearly communicated to parents beforehand. In addition, we may also use the iPad to listen to music whilst the children are freely dancing so they can hear their favourite songs. At times we can use iPad, talking books to support children who have communication difficulties, SEND or have English as an additional language. But again an adult will be with the children at all times and the use of the devices for interventions will be discussed with parents prior to use.

September 2026