Nuture’s Curriculum
The Six Principles of Nurture
Nurture as a practice means relating to and coaching children/young people to help them form positive relationships, build resilience and improve their social, emotional and mental health and wellbeing.
Children are at different stages of development – socially, emotionally, physically and intellectually – and need to be responded to at their developmental level in each of these areas. Learners are responded to in a non-judgemental and accepting attitude, helping them to feel safe and secure.
The classroom environment is inviting and nurturing for all. This includes offering a balance of educational and social, emotional and mental health experiences aimed at supporting the development of our learner’s relationships with each other and with staff.
Teaching staff are reliable and consistent in their approach and make the important link between emotional containment and cognitive learning.
Where possible, predictable routines are explained and practised, and there are clear expectations and positive models of how all adults in school relate to children and young people, both in and out of the classroom.
The classroom environment is inviting and nurturing for all. This includes offering a balance of educational and social, emotional and mental health experiences aimed at supporting the development of our learner’s relationships with each other and with staff.
Teaching staff are reliable and consistent in their approach and make the important link between emotional containment and cognitive learning.
Where possible, predictable routines are explained and practised, and there are clear expectations and positive models of how all adults in school relate to children and young people, both in and out of the classroom.
We want our learners to understand and express their thoughts and feelings. Our staff understand the importance of their own language towards our learners and how this might impact them.
Informal opportunities for talking and sharing are just as important as more formal lessons teaching language skills. Words can be used instead of actions to express feelings, and imaginative play helps learners understand the feelings of others. Learners are helped to recognise emotions and name them, including early warning signs of anger or anxiety.
We provide opportunities for learners, parents and staff to express their views, and that adults model how to share feelings and experiences. Use of language is assessed, developed and embedded in all aspects of the curriculum at the appropriate level for learners.
Daily routines allow for conversation and sharing of experiences.
People communicate through behaviour. Our teachers help children and young people to understand their feelings, express their needs appropriately, and use non-threatening and supportive language to resolve situations.
Our first responsibility in dealing with difficult or challenging behaviour, after safety, is to try to understand what the young person is trying to tell us? We ask why the behaviour is occurring; what is our learner trying to tell us? Staff try to respond in a firm, but non-punitive way, by not being discouraged or provoked.
Learners have a quiet area to become calm, and giving them time before a discussion can often help, as well as recognising potential triggers and anxieties that could be avoided or reduced.
Children and young people experience many transitions throughout their lives, and on a daily basis. Changes in routine are invariably difficult for vulnerable young people; teachers help transitions with carefully managed preparation and support.
Our staff understand the emotions that may be triggered by both small and large changes, and children should be pre-warned or reminded about changes in routines, using visual timetables to emphasise this as well as other coping strategies.