Nurture Group Inner East Key Stage 1 Learning Support Unit

National Support School Ebor Gardens has been recognised as an outstanding school and has been granted the status of Nation Support School. What does this mean for you? We offer outreach work Support and guidance Help with planning Both for Nurture Group and all other areas of school development.

What is a Nurture Group child? A Nurture Group placement will be considered for children who behaviour is a barrier to them being able to successfully access the routines and curriculum of a mainstream classroom. The provision will cater for pupils who have been identified by their school as having one or more of the following needs: Poor social skills, withdrawn and unresponsive and having difficulty relating to others. Chaotic family background or whose early or recent history suggest that they may be at risk. Disruptive behaviour, temper tantrums, aggression or noncompliance. Withdrawn or limited verbal skills or are at stage 3 Code of Practice,

How do adults work in Nurture Group? Model co-operation, sharing, discussion and exploration. Respond to a child’s emotional and developmental needs. Children are shown how to take turns, wait and to make appropriate choices. Children are given clear and consistent boundaries.

What happens in a Nurture Group? We will strive to provide a carefully routine day, where there is a balance of learning and caring within a safe environment. Children will follow a modified Curriculum personalised to their own individual needs. Where ever possible children will be encouraged to participate in mainstream, age appropriate activities.

Referral Criteria Children will be allocated places according to need and a panel will consider each case to ensure fair access for all schools. The panel will include four people from the following group: Ebor Gardens Headteacher The Nurture Group teacher An Educational Psychologist The A.M.B. facilitator A BEST representative Another primary Headteacher. If a child is considered suitable for a place in the Nurture Group, the SENCO from Ebor Gardens will then meet with representatives from the child’s school and parents to finalise details of the placement. It is important that the school can demonstrate that they have followed their own policies with regards to behaviour and SEN and that the Educational Psychologist has been involved with the child concerned and that a range of intervention strategies have been tried.

Re-integration Nurture Group is a short term intervention to help children develop the skills they will need to succeed in Main stream school. The placement will be reviewed after 4 weeks. Children will normally remain in Nurture group for up to 2 terms with the third term being used for reintegration back into their own schools. This will be carefully planned and managed in order to ensure maximum success for the child.

Staffing and training opportunities The teacher of the Nurture group will be Mrs Karen Sherwin, who previously worked as part of the BEST team. She will be fully supported by the SENCO, Mrs Maruszczak. Also on staff will be an experienced Teaching Assistant, Mrs Angela Holmes, also from Ebor Gardens. They will form the core team, but we will ask that each child attending the unit bring a Learning Support Assistant from their own school for two days (or four sessions) a week (if attending full-time) for a number of reasons: To maintain a close link with the mainstream school To work alongside the core team staff and experience using new strategies To take these strategies back to their own schools To take part in planning for individual pupils To take part in training opportunities—these will be provided by Educational Psychologists, the Inclusion team, BEST, the P.D.C. etc. To allow the training element to take place ( we see this as integral to successful re-integration for the pupils) and for the child to maintain links with their host school, the pupils will return back to their school one day a week (Wednesday).

Our Aim to develop a centre of excellence for supporting young children where staff from Inner East Leeds schools can develop their own range of strategies and share good practice. for every child who comes to Nurture Group to become a successful learner in a main stream classroom. Our motto is ‘We all grow together’.

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