What is Nurture?

The nurturing approach at Newbold Church School is part of the school’s culture and provision. It is fundamental in supporting the development of cultural capital of the pupils that access it and supporting their social and emotional needs and development of self-worth. This therefore enables pupils to engage more actively with learning and be well prepared for their next stage of education and future lives.

Most children start school with assumptions based on early experiences at home, about their capacity to enjoy learning; they are willing to try something new and can learn from their mistakes. They are able to learn in a normal classroom environment and thrive off challenge and group work. Most children will be supported at home if difficulties arise and their needs are met: self-actualization; esteem; belongingness and safety. However, some children arrive in school without having those necessary and positive experiences and therefore, school life is a different experience for them. This could be for different reasons and it all depends on their personal circumstances. For them, the complex activities and commotion of a large class can be extremely overwhelming for them as their needs have not yet been met. Their difficulties could range from not being able to listen, feel deflated quickly, seek attention through disruptive and aggressive behaviour or become incredibly withdrawn. Therefore, they are not making progress in the normal classroom environment.

We are extremely excited that we are able to offer a fantastic opportunity for children to access our school’s Nurture Programme. This programme offers group support in a positive environment where children will work with the Nurture Lead through a range of structured activities designed to meet their needs.

Nurture focuses on six principles, these are:

The children are carefully brought together to ensure a balanced and functional group. The Nurture provision continues the ethos of an already nurturing environment within Newbold Church School and provides inclusion for all children. There is much 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 Nurture Group provides children with this opportunity and so helps to develop their maturity and resilience, whilst developing the skills they need to reach their full potential. The Boxall Profile is used to help identify which skills need to be centred on by the Nurture team, and are assessed over the course of the Nurture experience.  The Nurture Group is a place of learning.

“By building a child’s social and emotional capabilities we enable children to be happily engaged with others and with society, and to learn, to develop fully, to attain and to achieve. In essence, it delivers school ready, life ready and child ready members of society” (The Allen report 2011)

Nurture is run and co-ordinated by our Nurture group leader, Mrs Elaine Kirk, she can be contacted via the school office.