Our nurture provision within Howletch Lane Primary School is an approach where a small group of children work part of the day with the support of our nurture team. The aim of the Nurture Group is to provide an inclusive and supportive environment to allow children to build trusting relationships with adults, their peers and to gain the skills they need in order to learn in larger classes. Our Nurture Group offers a short term, focused, intervention strategy, which addresses barriers to learning arising from social / emotional and or behavioural difficulties, in an inclusive, supportive manner. The group aims to provide a supportive environment for children to access positive learning experiences.
In the Nurture Group we successfully addressing the barriers to learning, this results in both improved academic attainment and improved health and wellbeing.
The approach will help to develop:
- Self-esteem and confidence
- A good feeling about school
- Language and number
- Sharing and taking turns
- Stronger links between their family and school
- Readiness for learning
The children are carefully selected according to their individual holistic profile of needs, identified using the Boxall Profile whilst also ensuring the establishment of a cohesive Nurture Group. Individual and group plans are then formulated, with all targets thoroughly discussed with all involved including the pupils themselves. Staff then provide a variety of experiences, opportunities, approaches and resources to address these needs within a culture of trust, understanding and knowledge incorporating the 6 principles of nurture as undernoted, with progress closely monitored.
In our nurture room we provide a balance of educational and domestic experiences aimed at supporting the development of the children’s relationship with each other and with the staff. The Nurture Group is organised around a structured day with predictable routines. Great attention is paid to detail; the adults are reliable and consistent in their approach to the children. The Nurture Group is an educational provision making the important link between emotional containment and cognitive learning, listening and responding. In our Nurture Group ‘everything is verbalised’ with an emphasis on our nurture team engaging with the children in reciprocal shared activities including play /talking about events and feelings. All children respond to being valued and thought about as individuals, so in practice this involves noticing and praising small achievements; ‘nothing is hurried in our Nurture Group.
