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• Poor social skills, withdrawn and unresponsive and having difficulty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• Withdrawn or limited verbal skills or are at stage 3 Code of Practice,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’.
Further information
Contact me:
sherwik01@leedslearning.net
Or the school on:
0113 2482750