Stoneyholme Community Primary School strives to achieve emotional wellbeing in all our children, both in school and at home. An emotionally well child understands their own and other people's feelings, wants to learn and makes positive relationships. A child who is growing strong is one who works well, loves well and expects to achieve their full potential.
What is a Nurture Group?
A Nurture Group is designed to provide pupils with specific activities and experiences. It brings together the National Curriculum with a curriculum designed to address the emotional and behavioural needs of the children. A nurture group consists of up to 12 children and two members of staff who have trained in nurture theory and practice. It sets out to provide a safe, welcoming and caring environment for learning and positive emotional experiences.
How does a Nurture Group work?
Children attend the NurtureGroup for regular sessions throughout the week. A range of structured activities are undertaken that aim to help these young people develop trust, communication skills and enable growth in their confidence and self-esteem. These activities often involve the sharing of news, emotional literacy sessions, turn taking games, group activities, formal curriculum tasks and the Nurture snack time whereby pupils and teachers share a snack and engage with each other.
How is my child chosen for Nurture Group?
Pupils access to and progress in the Nurture Group is monitored through a framework named The Boxall Profile. A Boxall Profile is a tool used to identify the different aspects of the pupils emotional and social development.
Pastoral Support
Children may need additional social and emotional support outside of the normal classroom environment, either on an individual basis or in a small group. Our school recognises and respects individual differences and seeks to promote inclusion. We provide holistic support allowing children to be heard and overcome barriers to their learning.
Drawing and Talking
This method of working with children is used to overcome any emotional barriers that may be affecting a child’s learning and promote positive emotional wellbeing. Drawing enables symoblic and safe expression of a child’s feelings. This intervention is carried out with individual children over 12 weeks. During this time children are able to gain more control over their emotions and behaviour and are better able to access the curriculum.
Sand Play
This intervention works towards the same outcomes as the Drawing and Talking method through using sand in free play. It is carried out with individual children over 12 weeks. The purpose of this approach is for children to become more aware of their feelings and develop an understanding of how to deal with and communicate their feelings. Children are encouraged to share their feelings with the group and see that other children have similar ones.
Sharing Worries
Each class in school has a ‘sparkle box’ and each child has a sparkle card with their name written on it. Children are encouraged to use the sparkle box system to speak in confidence with a sparkle box teacher about anything that may be worrying them or making them sad.
Stay Safe and Feel Good Group
The aim of this programme is to educate children on how to keep themselves safe and to give them the skills to recognise and deal with unsafe situations, as a result reducing their vulnerability.