School in Focus - celebrating success in schools

Shepherds Spring Infant School

It had got to a crisis point at Shepherds Spring Infant School in Andover. "The staff were stressed out and were starting to look for jobs elsewhere. They were getting physically and verbally abused. The exclusions were going through the roof. Then we heard about the nurture group," says governor, Vince McGarry.

Hampshire local education authority was looking for schools willing to form nurture groups and gave Shepherds Spring £7,000 to spend on setting up the group. In September 2001, after completing a four-day training course run by the University of Cambridge, Jan Casselton took on the role of nurture group teacher with the help of learning support assistant Ann McGarry. Children with a whole range of mental, emotional and behavioural problems were selected for the group.

Exclusion rates drop

"We looked at a whole gamut of things such as whether they can speak coherently, how they interact with other children, etc. We had children coming in who were selective mutes and children who were biting and kicking and hitting," she says. Getting the other teachers to believe in the value of the nurture group was hard at first. "The first six months was an uphill struggle," admits Mrs Casselton. "They couldn't see any benefits and they knew that a lot of money was going into it. But after a year, they saw exclusion rates drop and staff sickness fell." "The staff used to think we had it easy. But now they realise the value of having a class they can work with," she says.

In 2000-01, the school had 45 exclusions. In the last four years it has had one and the Mr McGarry believes this dramatic fall is all down to the nurture group. The children attend the group for half the day and spend the rest of the day with their class. Every session begins with circle time followed by an activity. The group stops for a snack and then does a work session. The group has 10 places and then are two extra places left available for children suffering trauma such as abuse or bereavement who need to join the group at short notice.

Some children will spend just a few terms there and some will be there for the whole of their time in school.
The nurture group room is also used for non-English speaking children when they first arrive at the school.
"It is seen as a privilege to be part of the nurture group," says Mrs Casselton who has a background in behaviour support teaching.

Parents receive help and support

Parents did have concerns initially that the nurture group would be seen as a "sinbin" but  "they now realise that this group helps both them and their children", she says. The parents also receive help and support from Mrs Casselton as she says: "Ninety-nine per cent have massive problems with their children at home." The school is in an area of social deprivation and children have very low attainment on entry. Patricia Cook, who has been head teacher at the school for eight years, calls the nurture group "the core of the school". She fully supports it and says: "Paying for a teacher and a learning support assistant to run the nurture group costs the school £50,000 a year but the money is definitely well spent."

She also has the backing of her teachers. "Two years ago I said to the staff, you can have a new entrance and new curtains or you can have the group for another year and they all chose the group." "If it is run properly, it is very expensive and it is the school that has to fund it," she explains. The training is costly and the programme needs the commitment of the whole school. As for the future of the nurture group, sadly it doesn't have one. The school is closing in August 2008 as schools in Andover have a falling roll. When the teachers heard about the closure, even they turned to the nurture group for support. "Everyone was shattered and they came and sat in the nurture group room to talk about it," says Mrs Casselton. "We are devastated that this unique group is going to go," she says.

Top tips

1. You need to have teachers in charge of the nurture group who genuinely care for the children.

2. You need to have the commitment of the whole school and you need to have perseverance as "it is certainly not easy," reveals Mrs Casselton.

3. You need to be able to juggle the budget as the group is expensive to run if it is done properly.