Our Nurture room is designed to be a bridge between home and school; a place where children can feel safe and secure and therefore develop their individual needs further. The Orchard room has a table to share snacks, a seating area to play games and work collaboratively.

What is the purpose of Nurture Group?

Nurture Group is a small class for pupils. Its composition is carefully well thought-out to create a balanced and functional group. The Nurture Group is part of the school’s Inclusion and PSHE (Personal, Social and Health Education) provision. Its purpose is to offer children opportunities to re-visit early learning skills and promote and support their social and emotional development. There is a lot of research evidence that children’s learning is most effective when they have a sense of emotional well-being, good self-esteem and a feeling of belonging to their school community. The Orchard Room provides children with this opportunity and so helps to develop their maturity and resilience.

The Nurture Group Principles:

•  Children’s learning is understood developmentally.
•  The classroom offers a safe base.
•  All behaviour is communication.
•  The importance of transition in children's lives
•  It has a small adult/child ratio, and provides lots of opportunities for speaking and listening activities.
•  Builds a child’s self-esteem and confidence
•  Builds skills for classroom learning
•  Has daily crafts, games, a ‘mini-tea’ and more!
•  Language is a vital means of communication.  

Children may attend sessions in the Nurture Group for specific reasons. For example:

•  Friendship difficulties – keeping/making friends
•  Quiet, shy, withdrawn
•  Find it hard to listen to others or join in
•  Disruptive towards others
•  Find it hard to share and take turns
•  A special educational need
•  Find it a bit difficult to settle into class
•  Low self-esteem
•  Poor relationships with adults in school
•  Bereavement
•  Family illness or break-up

Nurture Group will boost confidence and self-esteem and provide children with the extra help sometimes needed to improve social skills and independence. For example:                                            

•  To join in 
•  To settle
•  To listen and concentrate
•  To share and take turns
•  To build up friendships with their classmates
•  It gives them a chance and helps to encourage a more positive profile among their peers and members of staff.
•  Helps children manage situations and increase their skills to become more successful learners.  

Children attend nurture sessions as needed, and we ensure that they do not miss special assemblies, guests in school, outings or anything else that may be different from the normal routine of the week. Children will attend the nurture sessions for as long as the intervention is appropriate.

Children follow a structure and routine that is clear to both staff and children, which includes group listening and speaking, work tasks, individual and shared play and social skills. The group runs on consistency, positive reinforcement and praise.