Inclusion: Nurture Spaces - Calm and quiet

Triangle Nursery School has a reputation for supporting children with additional needs. Over the past five years, like many other schools and settings, the number of applications to the school for children with complex additional needs has increased significantly. Currently, 45 per cent of children on roll have additional needs and we have or are in the process of requesting 16 Education and Health Care Plans (EHCPs).

We recognised that for many of these children, we could offer support in our classrooms and continue to work towards requesting EHCPs as required. Although we are a relatively small school, some children were quickly overwhelmed by the busy environment and began to demonstrate this through some challenging behaviours.

In response to this, we created our nurture space in 2019 and repurposed our lunch room and breakout space into a sensory classroom to provide a quiet and calm space. Initially we set up this space with the support of existing staff. A small group of four children were supported by two adults and we were successful in achieving an EHCP for all four children.

A range of interventions and strategies were put in place to support children with their development, primarily focusing upon their communication and emotional development. Children were supported to use individual choice boards and visual timetables to work on targets and to access the wider curriculum. These were shared with parents and carers, who began to use these at home.

All made accelerated progress and transitioned smoothly into other schools and settings for Reception. Two moved into mainstream schools, and two into mainstream schools with resource bases.

COUNCIL SUPPORT

After this very successful year, we approached the local authority and shared what we had managed to achieve. It was keen to be involved and to support the nurture space. We were able to increase the number of children who could attend and employ a SEND teacher to oversee the running of the space.

Lambeth local authority helped by providing capital funding to adapt the space further so that it is more accessible for all children, including those with physical disabilities.

Admissions procedures for the nurture space are open to all children with an additional need who will require an EHCP request to be made. Children without any formal diagnosis are also eligible to join and we can support parents and carers with completing any necessary referrals or assessments. Often this is the first step for parents and carers in discussing and identifying their child’s additional needs and we aim to make the process as smooth and supportive as possible.

Over the past two years, we have had a number of children attend the nurture space. These have included children with diagnosed or suspected autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) and social communication difficulties, children with global and significant learning delay, visually and mobility impaired children and children with specific medical conditions that impact development.

NURTURE SPACE

Lambeth has seen a significant rise in the number of children presenting with ASD and social, emotional and mental health (SEMH) needs. It is more important than ever before to have effective and nurturing spaces for these children to thrive.

The nurture space is made up of three different spaces, including:

• A sensory classroom with access to developmentally appropriate and highly motivating resources.
• A quieter carpet area where children can work one-to-one and in smaller groups in carefully planned and focused activities and interventions.
• A dedicated outside space that provides opportunity to move freely and safely, using a variety of equipment and resources.

The nurture space is led by a SEND teacher who manages a team of four teaching assistants. Currently we have 14 children attending either part or full time, with an adult to child ratio of 1:2.

As a school, we aim to provide a safe, stimulating and well resourced environment that enables all children to be confident, inquisitive and exploratory learners. Children attending the nurture space have individual targets and support plans. They have access to:

• One-to-one and small-group interventions. Many of these focus on language development and activities to build children’s attention, listening and eye contact for a short period, such as bucket time and ‘what’s in the box’.
• Sensory resources and activities to regulate emotions and wellbeing. Access to cause and effect toys and resources that encourage shared attention, interaction and perseverance.
• Music therapy sessions, either one to one or in small groups, to develop social communication and sound-making. Children also practise turn-taking and develop the ability to tolerate delay as appropriate.
• Team teaching with speech and language therapists and occupational therapists.
• Access to individual toileting and self-care plans. We work closely with parents and carers to ensure that consistent approaches can be taken at home and at school.
• The nurture space also allows for children to explore the wider curriculum and to engage in parallel and shared play with the other children in the space. We felt that the social aspect of the nurture space encourages children to interact with each other, and this has had a significant impact on children’s personal, social and emotional development.
• Meditation and relaxation time which helps children to regulate their emotions and to begin to understand and develop strategies to calm and soothe themselves.

Staff provide every opportunity for children to engage in purposeful and meaningful interactions to further their interests and ideas. The nurture space is often the calmest space in the school, whereby children’s language and vocal sounds are valued as being the most important sounds in the room.

TRUE PARTNERSHIP

Many staff have their own children with additional needs and understand the difficult journey it can be to secure the best support. Staff help parents who may need to reflect on the amount of support their child will require and offer practical advice and guidance. We truly work in parent partnership to ensure the very best outcomes for families.

Staff are honest, transparent and realistic in the support they provide to children and have the highest expectations for them to achieve and succeed. One parent commented in their leavers questionnaire: ‘You have given my son everything. He is returning to the happy, smiley little boy he once was. It is amazing what he can do now.’

Over the past five years, the maintained nursery schools in Lambeth have supported more than 800 children with identified additional needs. We are currently working with Lambeth to try to secure additional funding to create a nurture space at each of the four other schools.

CAST STUDY: Miller

Three-year-old Miller and mum were initially supported by Maytree Children’s Centre, who assisted with making a speech and language referral and then referred mum to Triangle’s nurture space. They attended a parent tour where mum was very open in sharing what she felt Miller would need and the things he found challenging. Miller presented as non-verbal and with limited social communication. The pandemic further impacted Miller’s development and he had limited access to early support and professional interventions.

It was clear they would both require significant amounts of support to separate from each other. Mum spent much of the first month only separating for up to five minutes. She would hug Miller, say goodbye and go into our main reception area. After some time, Miller stopped crying when separating, but would refuse to leave his buggy. Staff in the nurture space would bring resources and sensory toys to him and he soon began to interact and smile.

After another few weeks, Miller left his buggy and was able to separate from mum for up to 45 minutes. He would initially stay in the same space for much of this session, choosing to remain by the gate. He was again supported by staff with familiar toys and resources and began to share joint attention for up to three minutes with familiar staff. Mum could separate from Miller, knowing that he was safe and happy.

Miller returned after the summer holidays and required some support to resettle. However, he did this relatively quickly and showed increased confidence. Miller began to make vocal sounds and laughed often while playing. Soon, he managed to separate for up to three hours for the whole morning session.

Miller has continued to grow in confidence and now attends one-to-one and small group support inside the classroom. He takes part in bucket time, singing sessions and music therapy.

The EHCP was finalised in January 2022. This will now ensure effective support can continue when Miller transitions to primary school.

Triangle Nurture Space is part of Triangle Nursery School, which is part of the Lambeth Maintained Nursery Schools Federation of five nursery schools. Across the five nursery schools, we support more than 650 children, over 180 of whom have additional needs.