Nurture

Why Manor is a Nurturing School

At Manor we aim to develop the whole child by ensuring that the basic life skills are nurtured and developed in order for learning and academic success to be experienced. Nurturing the health and wellbeing of our children is an embedded approach across the school’s ethos, linking with other aspects of health, education, spiritual development, the wider school curriculum and the ethos and policies that underpin our school. We strive to maintain good partnership working with other agencies and health services to ensure our children and families receive the best possible support whenever its required.

What is Nurture?

The concept of nurture highlights the importance of social environments – who you’re with, and not who you’re born to – and its significant influence on social emotional skills, wellbeing and behaviour. Children and young people who have a good start in life are shown to have significant advantages over those who have experienced missing or distorted early attachments. They tend to do better at school, attend regularly, form more meaningful friendships and are significantly less likely to offend or experience physical or mental health problems.

The nurturing approach offers a range of opportunities for children and young people to engage with missing early nurturing experiences, giving them the social and emotional skills to do well at school and with peers, develop their resilience and their capacity to deal more confidently with the trials and tribulations of life, for life.

What is a Nurturing School?

A nurturing school is a place wherep upils benefit from an approach that supports children and young people with their specific needs, the school’s focus being that learning is understood developmentally.

Parents benefit by being involved and welcomed in the school, seeing the improvement in their children’s learning, behaviour, confidence and attendance, with a better outcome for their children both in and out of the school and classroom.

Teachers benefit from having an opportunity to focus on their pupils’ individuality whilst ensuring the best social, emotional and academic outcome. Teachers will also enable a culture where every stakeholder’s voice counts.

Schools benefit from showing their commitment to developing an ethos and culture hat is inclusive and supports everyone in and associated with the school.

Communities benefit from having a school that wants to be at the heart of the community and demonstrates its essential role in children and young people’s lives.

National Nurture UK is dedicated to improving the health and wellbeing of children and young people and removing barriers to learning by promoting Nurture in education. At Manor we passionately believe in embedding the 6 Principles of Nurture that are celebrated as part of acquiring the accreditation of the National Nurture Award; and that Manor is a safe, warm and nurturing environment where our children can thrive and strive.

What are the Nurture Principles?

1. Children’s learning is understood developmentally.

2. The classroom offers a safe base.

3. Nurture is important for development of self-esteem.

4. Language is understood as a vital means of communication.

5. All behaviour is communication.

6. Transitions are significant in the lives of children.

If you are interested in finding out more about Nurture, please visit www.nurtureuk.org

Nurture Group: Provision

As a Nurturing School, Manor uses the Nurture Principles to enable children to develop socially and emotionally throughout all learning.

Our Nurture Groups support children throughout the school with their social, emotional, and mental wellbeing. Nurture principles are based on Attachment Theory – the idea that developing positive relationships with family, peers and other adults from an early age facilitates healthy development. Nurture practices aim to give children the social and emotional skills to do well at school and with peers and develop their resilience.

The Nurture Group philosophy contains a heavy emphasis on curriculum-based learning; however, this goes hand in hand with a caring, supportive approach in a safe and welcoming environment. Children can explore their emotions and understanding of the world in a more relaxed and practical environment.

What difference do Nurture Groups make for our children?

they increase confidence and self-esteem
children believe in themselves as learners
they improve language, literacy and maths skills
they allow children to have and make better friendships
they enjoy school
they can concentrate better
they are able to solve problems
they often return to their classes without needing extra help

Boxall Profile

The Boxall Profile is an assessment of a child’s social and emotional aptitudes. It was developed through many years of research by Educational Psychologist, Marjorie Boxall and has been used widely in schools and for research for over 20 years.

The profile has its base in Attachment Theory and allows an insight into a specific child’s behaviour and enables planning for teaching, taking into account specific strengths and weaknesses.

At Manor Primary School, we use the Boxall Profile as part of our toolkit to develop an holistic understanding of each child. Children accessing pastoral support are assessed to add an understanding of the child’s social and emotional wellbeing to the academic results we track. This allows us to target pastoral support within Nurture Group more effectively, as well as measure a child’s progress towards a particular goal.

Children who access Nurture Group support are assessed using the Boxall Profile termly, the results of which inform the following term’s planning to meet the needs of each individual child.

Although the Boxall Profile is a useful tool for identifying strengths and areas for development, the views of parents/carers, teaching staff and, most importantly, the children themselves are also taken into consideration both within classrooms and when accessing support such as Nurture Group.

Useful Links for Parents

British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy

BACP is the professional association for members of the counselling professions in the UK.

Caspari Foundation

An independent charity that exists to help children and young people overcome emotional, social and behavioural difficulties.

SEBDA

The website for the Social and Emotional Behavioural Difficulties Association.

Young Minds

A UK charity committed to improving the emotional wellbeing and mental health of children and young people.

CYPMHC

The Children and Young People's Mental Health Coalition brings together leading charities to campaign jointly on the mental health and wellbeing of children and young people.

National Children's Bureau

The National Children's Bureau brings people and organisations together to drive change in society and deliver a better childhood across the UK.

Action for Children are offering live confidential support online for parents via their parenting coaches.

https://talk.actionforchildren.org.uk/

The Nurture Group Network

www.nurturegroups.org

BBC Parenting

https://www.bbc.com/future/tags/parenting

Parent Line Plus

www.parentlineplus.org.uk