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Nurture & Pastoral Support

Our Rainbow Room

At Blundeston, we recognise that sometimes life can be hard for our families and things can go wrong.  We want to support our children and families as much as we can, either short-term when a crisis happens, or for a longer period of time, so that they can continue to flourish.

We are very lucky to have our own nurture and pastoral support in school.  This provision is an integral part of our Early Help Offer.  Our Nurture and Pastoral Support Lead is Mrs. Pryke and she is in school full-time.  

Mrs. Pryke leads our nurture groups for three afternoons a week in our specially designed Rainbow Room.  The children in this group have been identified by the school as needing additional support for their social and emotional development and mental wellbeing.  The group provides a safe base for the children, so they are able to flourish.

The Rainbow Room is underpinned by the six principles of nurture:-

1. Children's learning is understood developmentally

2. The classroom offers a safe base

3. Nurture is important for the development of self-esteem

4. Language is understood as a vital means of communication

5. All behaviour is communication

6. Transitions are significant in the lives of children

This intervention lasts for one to four terms.  In the Rainbow Room, there are clear boundaries, routines, rewards and expectations, with respectful relationships modelled by the adults in the room. 

Mrs. Pryke also offers a drop-in and support service for children and parents.  She offers a range of services, including listening appointments, advice and guidance with parenting-related issues, as well as signposting and referrals for additional support, including mental health.

Parents are able to contact Mrs. Pryke directly by telephoning the school phone number and selecting option 5. 

Our Nurture Launch

We invited all of our families to join us for a day of Nurture.  The focus was "Nurture is important for the development of wellbeing".

Families listened to the book "The Wonder" and then worked together to draw, paint and create pictures of their most wonderful school.

In the classrooms, the children were led in circle time and meditation.  Each class also had time in the wildlife area and were able to be very creative both indoors and outdoors, in a variety of ways.

We received some wonderful comments from parents and children about the day:

"Children were really engaged and wanting to create.  Brilliant!"

"Good fun! Nice for the parents to be involved and great to see the children being creative.  Thank you."

"Thought it was brilliant!  It's so important to address the whole of a child's experience at school, not just the academic achievements!"

"Really enjoyed the session.  I liked how the activity grew from the book."

"My favourite part of the nurture day was circle time because the Rainbow Room people are really fun."

"I enjoyed the bit when my dad came and we both did drawings together and it was amazing."

"I enjoyed the meditation because it made me calm."

"I most enjoyed the mindfulness colouring because it makes me feel calm."

"I enjoyed playing charades and guess the sound because it taught me about communication and feeling."

"I really enjoyed spending time with my family as I don't usually see them in school."

"After meditation, I felt like I wanted to go to sleep - I was so tired!"

"It was good because it let us release all of our worries."

"I thought this day was really useful.  I found the meditating very relaxing and I hope we get to do some more often because it was a time to get all your feelings out."