St John The Baptist’s College
Nurture Centre Policy
St John The Baptist’s College
Nurture Centre Policy
Mission Statement
In The Nurtury we aim to provide our children with carefully routined sessions, where there is a balance of learning and teaching, affection and structure within a homelike atmosphere. We will do this within a school that is committed to a nurturing ethos.
What is a Nurture Group?
“Nurture Groups are an in-school resource for…. pupils whose emotional social, behavioural and formal learning needs are being adequately met within the classrooms” (Boxall 2002)
We in St John The Baptist’s College believe that all young people have the same basic need- to be loved, accepted and encouraged. We wish to support all of these needs and thereby to minimise the likelihood of our pupils becoming school-refusers.
In order to support this we have established a Nurture Group with qualified staff who have been trained and accredited by The Nurture Group Network. Our Nurture Group is an in-school, teacher led psychosocial intervention of usually eight students. We aim to immerse our children within an accepting and warm environment to help them develop positive relationships with both peers and staff.
According to Boxall the Nurture Centre is furnished to represent the home and school and its aim is to create the world of missed early childhood, build in the basic and essential learning experiences normally gained in the first three years of life and thus enable the children within the Nurture Group to fully meet their potential in mainstream schools.
The Six Principles of a Nurture Group:
It is essential that first and foremost our Nurture Centre focuses on having our pupils form attachments to loving and caring adults in the school. Giving our pupils unconditional positive regard can be the most powerful mechanism for change.
Within our Nurture Group we focus on each pupil’s need to:
(The National Research Council and Institute of Medicine, 2002)
In order to ensure that our children settle and feel secure we ensure that the everyday nurture routine is explicit and predictable:
The KS3 Nurture children attend AM and PM Registration each day , along with P1, 6 and 7. KS4 Nurture and Curriculum Support students have their own schedule to follow. The Nurtury is a hybrid of home and school. The day will normally begin with breakfast and news sharing. This is followed by emotional literacy through Personal Development tasks and regular curriculum tasks.
Our pupils still share normal break and lunch times with their mainstream peers. They are also timetabled to regularly return to their mainstream class for curriculum time.
Each child will remain within the Nurtury for 1 to 4 terms depending on their specific needs.
Attachment Theory
According to The Nurture Groups John Bowlbey’s attachment theory model underpins the effectiveness of nurture groups. It argues that children acquire age-appropriate behaviour through interaction with significant others. If a child’s early experiences were characterised by missing or distorted nurturing, it can lead to stunted social, emotional and cognitive development. These distorted early experiences can be overcome with the help of nurturing adults.
How Do We Identify Children Requiring Nurture Centre Assistance?
Placement within the KS3 NC is determined on the basis of systematic assessment- namely the Boxall Profile. Initial concerns regarding social emotional, and to a lesser extent behavioural difficulties, are raised by staff and referred to the child’s Form Teacher. If the child is deemed in need of mentoring or counselling then this is organised via the Progress Leader and Senior Teacher in charge of Pastoral Care. If there is a perceived need for more in depth intervention the STPC will consult with NC staff and outline the concerns. NC staff will liaise with the SENCO regarding referred pupils. In some circumstances referral can come via parental request. This referral can come via Mrs Murray or SENCO. In these situations the NC staff will meet with the parent and child after liaising with the SENCO. (These referrals are often crisis referrals and placement within the NC may not last as long as 4 terms.) It is at this stage that NC staff will ask for a Boxall profile to be completed on the child and analysed to assess whether or not the NC is a suitable place for the child. KS3 Nurture provision is led by Mrs L Swain.
KS4 Nurture and Curriculum support is organised through collaboration between the VP Curriculum, the Curriculum team, the Nurture Team and the Pastoral team. The Nurture practitioner will liaise with these team members and arrange support for students either within The Nurtury or within their mainstream classes. The sessions are small group sessions or 1:1, according to the needs of the student. Agreement for participating in KS4 Nurture and Curriculum support comes about through collaboration between the student, his or her parent/carer and the school. Support can be offered in Year 11 and 12, as required. KS4 Nurture provision is led by Mrs S McCabe.