Issue #16 – 02/02/18 – Nurture Room

[heading]Nurture Room[/heading]

Dear Parents,

This week we would like to tell you about our Nurture Room and our work with parents.

The Nurture Room has been in existence at Cathedral School since September 2010, when it was formally opened by Dr Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury.

Purpose

The Nurture Room is part of the school’s Inclusion and PSHCE (Personal, Social and Health and Citizenship Education) provision. Its purpose is to promote and support children’s social and emotional development. There is much research evidence that children’s learning is most effective when they have a sense of emotional well-being, good self-esteem and a feeling of belonging to their school community. The Nurture Room provides children with the opportunity to develop their emotional literacy and communication skills, and so develop maturity and resilience. The Nurture Room is a place of learning.

Ethos

The ethos of the Nurture Room is drawn from the principles established by the work of Margery Boxall and others, and exemplified by the national The Nurture Group Network (www.nurturegroups.org). These principles are then adapted to suit the particular needs of the children at Cathedral School. They include:
• Children’s emotional learning is a developmental process
• The acquisition of language and vocabulary to articulate feelings is vital
• All behaviour is communication
• Children are given opportunities to set the agenda in the Nurture Room within a safe physical and emotional environment

Which children attend the Nurture Room?

It is our expectation that at some time during their time at Cathedral School most children will benefit from attending the Nurture Room. They will work with other children and an adult in a group of 4 or 5, for 30– 40 minutes per week. Groups are put together thoughtfully in order to ensure there is a balanced cross-section of personalities, including positive role models.

A smaller cohort of children may be specifically targeted because of particular concerns. These children are identified through discussion with teachers, support staff and parents/carers. These targeted children may attend sessions in the Nurture Room for more specific reasons, for example:

• Friendship difficulties
• Low self esteem
• Poor behaviour, poor relationships with adults in school
• Bereavement
• Family illness or break-up

Liaison with parents

The Nurture Room is part of the School’s regular PSHCE and Inclusion provision and parents/carers will not normally be notified when their child is taking part in Nurture Room sessions.
If school staff have a particular concern or worry about a child this is normally shared and discussed with parents/carers as soon as possible.

The school is always willing to discuss any concerns or worries parents/carers may have about their child’s attendance at Nurture Room sessions.

Activities in the Nurture Room

Children undertake activities in the Nurture Room that are designed to:

-Create a safe an open environment for children to express themselves and their feelings, for example:

• Role play and imaginative play with soft toys, animals, real world etc
• Drawing, dough, jewellery making, knitting, sewing and other art and craft activities
• Informal performance activities (songs, dances)

-Give children the opportunity to develop and use emotional vocabulary, for example:

• Circle Time
• Talk Ball
• Role plays with puppets
• Card games exploring feelings

-Model positive effective social interactions, for example:

• Group discussions
• Role plays
• Positive role models
• Specially devised board games such as Time to Talk, No More Bullies, The Good Behaviour Game, Conflict Resolution


Do children miss important class work when they attend the Nurture Room?

When children participate in any small group activities outside the classroom with additional adults the school will always try to minimise any impact on learning.
Nurture Room sessions do not normally take place at times when the children are learning literacy or numeracy, or when special activities are taking place in their class.
The children can self-refer to the nurture room via a post box outside the room. They can also use Digi, our online referral tool. On occasions, teachers may ask a child if they would like to visit the nurture room if they appear to need some time to talk.

Children’s comments about the Nurture Room

- ”The Nurture Room is where you can be happy and talk about your feelings”
- ”The Nurture Room is a nice relaxing place to be”
- ”The Nurture Room is special because it is fun”
- “I like the comfy chairs and being able to talk to Jo when I’m feeling upset”
- ”I play games and talk about how to deal with my problems”
- ”I really like the Nurture Room because you get to play games”

Work with Parents

I offer confidential, individualised support with issues or concerns that parents may have including: behaviour management, secondary transfer as well as any family circumstances that may be affecting your child.

As the Designated Deputy Safeguarding Person at the school, there are times when I contact parents to discuss concerns that a child has shared or the school has identified. Please be assured that this information is treated sensitively and helps us to plan how best to meet the needs of the children. On occasions, this information may need to be shared with statutory external agencies. Further information on the School Safeguarding Policy and Procedures can be found on the school website, on noticeboards in the playground and hard copies are available from the office.

I work closely with Mrs Scott monitoring school attendance, following up with parents where there are concerns, to see what support we can offer.

I run Cathedral Tots, a playgroup for siblings of children at the school. This takes place on Wednesday mornings in the school hall between 9.30am and 10.15am. We’re now in our second year and parents and children are enjoying the sessions. Please do join us, if you have a pre-school child (babies also welcome).

If you have any questions or suggestions, please come to talk to me in the playground at the beginning or end of the day, contact me via the school office or email me, via: school.admin@btconnect.com

Best wishes,

Jo McEwan

Home School Liaison Officer

[box title="New Chair of the Governing Body" color="#0D83DD"]

Many thanks to Father Michael for chairing the Governing Body of Cathedral Primary School. The school and governors have appreciated his significant contribution to the leadership of the school. We are so pleased that Father Michael has agreed to continue as vice-chair. The governors were delighted to vote in Janet Simpson (currently vice-chair) as the new chair during the Full Governing Body Meeting on Tuesday evening. Congratulations to Janet.

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[box title="Cathedral Maths Challenge" color="#0D83DD"]
Well done to all our entrants for last week's Maths Challenge. This week's champion class was Year 2!

Here is this week's Maths Challenge. Please make sure your entry is in the box by Thursday.

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