The Meadow
Rationale
The Meadow is a nurture group provision at Lovelace set up with support and guidance from the Education Support Service (EISS) at Achieving for Children.
Not all children are ready to meet all the demands of school life. Research shows that a child is able to learn best when they have strong self-esteem, a sense of belonging and resilience. Nurture groups are a short-term, focused intervention for groups of 6-12 children with particular social, emotional and behavioural difficulties which are creating a barrier to learning within a mainstream class.
Nurture groups offer a short-term focused intervention which addresses barriers to learning arising from social or emotional difficulties and are based on The Six Key Principles of Nurture developed by The Nurture Group Network.
The groups are small, structured teaching groups for children showing signs of behavioural, social or emotional difficulties, particularly those who are experiencing disruption or distress inside or outside school.
The six principles of nurture
1.Children’s learning is understood developmentally
2. The classroom offers a safe base
3. The importance of nurture for the development of wellbeing
4. Language is a vital means of communication
5. All behaviour is communication
6. The importance of transition in children’s lives
Ref: Lucas et al, (2006) Nurture Group Principles and Curriculum Guidelines Helping Children to Achieve, nurtureuk.
Our objectives:
- To increase children’s confidence, self-esteem, attainment, and love for learning and school
- To achieve stability with behaviour and attitudes to learning of identified pupils
- To support pupil’s academically, emotionally and socially in a smaller group environment
- To improve attendance and links between home and school
- To significantly reduce the impact of key learners’ behaviour on others within the school and beyond (family life)
- To significantly reduce the number of significant incidents and, in some cases, internal isolations and exclusions
A day in the life of the Meadow
The Meadow is staffed by two fully trained Nurture Lead Practitioners supported by the Nurture Lead Teacher and aims to support children in all aspects of the school day. Our core group of children spend each morning in The Meadow but remain part of their own class group and join their class at certain times of the day such as registration and for more practical activities such as PE and Music. Attendance in The Meadow is reviewed on a termly basis with the goal is for them to return to their own class full-time after a maximum of six terms.
Some shorter targeted afternoon or graduate groups also run weekly for one or two sessions a week.
The Meadow Staff
Mrs Hurford – Assistant Headteacher for Inclusion
Mrs Smith – Nurture Lead Practitioner
The classroom offers a safe base
Nurture is important for the development of self-esteem. Pupils learn in an environment where the furniture is a mixture of home and school, so the space is safe, consistent and predictable for the children. The Meadow has a kitchen area that provides them with breakfast, supporting a calm start to the day and snack times to promote routines and informal interaction. The organisation of the environment and the way the group is managed contains anxiety.
The Meadow offers a balance of educational and domestic experiences aimed at supporting the development of the children’s relationship with each other and the staff.
The 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 group aims to be an educational provision making the important link between behaviour for learning and wellbeing/self-esteem.
Staff plan closely with class teachers to deliver a full curriculum in-line with the topics in their year group and to meet the specific needs of the individual children. The rest of the day is structured to provide opportunities to address specific skills needed to become successful learners upon return to a mainstream class.
Parental involvement is welcomed and actively encouraged and has a positive impact on the relationship between home and school.
Language is understood as a vital form of communication.
Language is more than a skill to be learnt. It is the way of putting feelings into words and children can sometimes act out their feelings as they lack the vocabulary to name how they feel. In the Meadow we provide informal opportunities for talking and sharing e.g. welcoming the children in the group or sharing food/snacks together are as important as the more formal lessons teaching language skills. Words are used instead of actions to express feelings and opportunities are created for extended conversations or encouraging imaginative play to understand the feelings of others.
All behaviour is communication
Given that we know about a child and their development we try to ask questions such as:
What is this child trying to tell me?
What are the triggers for any negative behaviours or anxiety that they are displaying?
Understanding what a child is communicating through behaviour helps staff to respond appropriately to listen and de-escalate. If a child can sense that their feelings are understood this can help defuse difficult situations.
Transitions are significant in the lives of children
Working within The Meadow will help to make the difficult transitions from home to school more positive for the children. There are numerous transitions throughout the day e.g. between sessions or classes and between different adults and we aim to give the children strategies to support this too. Changes in routine are invariably difficult for vulnerable children and these to be managed carefully with careful preparation and support.
When we nurture a child’s whole being we open the door to endless opportunities…