Our Nurturing School
We follow the 6 Principles of Nurture as set out by NurtureUK and they summarise the fundamentals of our curricula across our school. They also apply to all pupils no matter what their needs. Pupils at Dee Banks require a curriculum that is motivating, engaging and differentiated to meet individual complex needs in order to fulfill their potential and help them thrive. By following these 6 principles we know we can achieve this for all pupils.
How is Nurture embedded into our curriculum?
Dee Banks aims to be a Nurturing School and as such, the Nurturing ethos is embedded throughout the curriculum at all levels. This year has given us particular challenges, but our nurturing ethos has helped us develop our response to them. We are using a Recovery Curriculum to support our usual curriculum for a while.
Before pupils start at Dee Banks we try to meet our families at home. This means we are able to build close relationships with families from the start. In Early Years we focus on developing communication and feelings of safety and confidence. We recognise that starting school has probably been the child’s first big transition and make every effort to minimise the effects of the Behaviours learnt at this age, are some of the most important for pupils and families and each child will have a Listen, Respond, Teach plan (LRT) once the staff have got to know them. These plans develop with the pupil through their life in school and may develop into Communication Passports or more detailed LRTs as they get older.
Throughout the school we provide safe spaces for children, whether in their main class or in 1:1 or small group sessions. As the child develops we teach about feelings, self-awareness, friendships, relationships and how to cope when things go wrong.
All pupils are encouraged to express themselves through whatever means and learn that their voice will be listened to. School council, lunchtime clubs, DofE, forest school, etc. all allow different groupings to happen so a sense of community is built up across school.
Sometimes 1:1 work or very small groups led by teachers or teaching assistants may be used to enhance the general classroom provision. In this way we have delivered NurtureABC with Lego, Talk & Draw, Next Steps Cards, ELSA sessions and Zones of Regulation.
How can parents and carers be involved in this area?
As most pupils arrive at school on LEA transport, we have less regular contact with most parents. To counteract this, we try to have home visits before a child starts at Dee Banks and we are trying to increase the opportunity for parents and siblings to become more part of the school community, through special days, trainings and events.
Together with our Family Support Worker, we can also support families in school, at home and through the TAF (Team Around the Family) and CIN (Child In Need) process.
Through their Child’s PLIMS (Personalised Learning Intention Maps), parents will be able to see and contribute to developing targets in the area of Social Emotional Mental Health (SEMH) needs if this is important to them. The Boxall Profile can also be shared with parents when relevant. Parents also contribute to our pupil’s developmental journey through accessing and adding to Evidence for Learning (EfL)
