Nurture Class (Sunshine)

Hello I am Mrs Mullrooney, I have worked at Cherry Fold for 10 years but have been part of the Inclusion team for 3 years. I specialise in running the Sunshine class providing nurture to children throughout the school. I also run a lunchtime club.

Our Nurture room is designed to be a bridge between home and school; a place where children can feel safe and secure and therefore develop their individual needs further. The Sunshine room has a table to share snacks, a seating area to play games and work collaboratively.

What is the purpose of Nurture Group & its Philosophy?

Nurture Group is a small class of pupils. Its composition is carefully well thought-out to create a balanced and functional group. The Nurture Group is part of the school’s Inclusion and PSHE (Personal, Social and Health Education) provision. Its purpose is to offer children opportunities to re-visit early learning skills and promote and support their 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 this opportunity and so helps to develop their maturity and resilience.

The philosophy of the Nurture Room is drawn from the principles established by the work of Marjorie Boxall and others, and exemplified by ‘The Nurture Group Network’ (www.nurturegroups.org).

The Nurture Group Principles:

•  Children’s learning is understood developmentally
•  The classroom offers a safe base
•  All behaviour is communication
•  The importance of transition in children's lives
•  Has small adult/child ratio, and provides lots of opportunities for speaking and listening activities
•  Builds a child’s self-esteem and confidence
•  Builds skills for classroom learning
•  Has daily crafts, games, a ‘mini-tea’ and more!
•  Language is a vital means of communication  

Children may attend sessions in the Nurture Group for specific reasons, for example:

•  Friendship difficulties – keeping/making friends
•  Quiet, shy, withdrawn
•  Find it hard to listen to others or join in
•  Disruptive towards others
•  Find it hard to share and take turns
•  A special educational need
•  Find it a bit difficult to settle into class
•  Low self esteem
•  Poor relationships with adults in school
•  Bereavement
•  Family illness or break-up

Nurture Group will boost confidence and self-esteem and provide children with the extra help sometimes needed to improve social skills and independence for example:                                            

•  To join in 
•  To settle
•  To listen and concentrate
•  To share and take turns
•  To build up friendships with their classmates
•  It gives them a chance and helps to encourage a more positive profile among their peers and members of staff.
•  Helps children manage situations and increase their skills to become more successful learners.  

Children attend nurture sessions as needed and we ensure that they do not miss special assemblies, guests in school, outings or anything else that may be different from the normal routine of the week. Children will attend the nurture sessions for as long as the intervention is appropriate.

Children follow a structure and routine that is clear to both staff and children which includes group listening and speaking, work tasks, individual and shared play and social skills. The group runs on consistency, positive reinforcement and praise.

What takes place in our nurture sessions?

Our session begins with a welcome, feelings check in and circle time to share news. We move on to a planned focused activity which is carefully structured to meet the individual needs of the child in reflection to the results of their Boxall profile. We then move on to explore the continuous provision which again is carefully selected through the planning. After this we share snack and  stories. 

September 23 Activities

PSHE Games July 23

Pizza Designs June 23

Group Games May 23

Making Snacks April 23

Baking March 23

Pancake Day 2023

This afternoon the children in sunshine made their own pancakes. We helped each other to weigh out our ingredients and watched the liquid turn into a solid. We enjoyed having a range of yummy toppings and all posed for a flipping photo at the end of the session, please note the pan used in the photo was cold!