Present: Alison Smith – Chair (EB), Ashleigh Brady (Brackenhill Primary), Helen Foakes (Brackenhill Primary), Lisa Knight (Sandy Lane Primary), Sannah Malik (Lapage Primary), Tracie Cerny (Fearnville Primary), Joanne Dooling (Fearnville Primary), Liz Midgley (Ingrow Primary), Tracey McPhee (Westbourne Primary), Kelly Booth (Oakbank School), Wanda Makhokolo (Oakbank School), Vicky Woodhouse (Westbourne Primary), Catherine Wellington (Knowleswood Primary), Sherrie Lake (Lidget Green Primary), Jill O’Donnell (Lidget Green Primary), Angie Crossley (St Joseph’s, Keighley), Jenny McGuinness (St Joseph’s, Keighley), Amy Dent (Lister Primary), Nicola Stephenson (Thornton Primary), Anwen Thompson (Thornton Primary), Deborah Traynor (Thornton Primary), Steve Smith (Oakbank School), Linda Whittingham (Children’s Services – taking minutes).
Apologies: Lisa Metcalfe (Whetley Academy), Tom Nowakowski (Whetley Academy), Suhaib Khan (Whetley Primary), Car0lyn Depledge (Hollingwood Primary), Lesley Broxholme (Westbourne Primary), Susan Hogg (Killinghall Primary), Linda Biggins (Samuel Lister Academy), Amanda Leggett (Samuel Lister Academy).
Item / Notes1 / Introductions and Welcomes
Dave Maxwell (Headteacher of Oakbank School) addressed the meeting. He welcomed everyone to the school and informed us that he had only been in post there for 20 months. He stressed how important he felt it was to students to get the support they need – in all Year Groups; from Nurture Groups in primary all the way through school life. He said that quality provision is necessary and that students need to be taught appropriately to make progress; he felt that some students misbehaved because the work they were doing was not appropriate to them. May students bring “baggage” with them and are troubled. He felt that it was necessary to provide opportunities and create an area where they are valued.
Mr Maxwell praised Kelly and Wanda for their work with students who had issues. He stressed how vitally important it was for students to move forward and gain confidence. He said they had many success stories in their school; one of which was regarding a student whose primary school had said “you will not be able to contain him”. However, he has now graduated in Year 9. Mr Maxwell has a strong belief in “achievement for all” and hopes that the Nurture side of things at Oakbank will improve next year. This ethos needs to work across the Authority and he was heartened to see so many primary schools “on board” and that secondaries were now coming in. The Keighley Hub is working well but he felt that Oakbank is 2 – 3 years behind Raistrick but Oakbank is striving to catch up.
Alison thanked Mr Maxwell and welcomed everyone to the last meeting of this academic year. The usual introductions around the room took place with each school stating how long their Nurture Group had been running.
2 / Ruth Dennis (EP) “All Aboard”
Ruth is a Senior Educational Psychologist within Children’s Services. She has worked in Bradford for a long time in various roles; she has been a Specialist Teacher for SEN children, she worked in a Special School for a number of years, and also worked in the Nursery at Thornton Primary. She told the meeting that over the years she had developed an interest in children with needs and the lack of a nurturing environment. She then progressed into Psychology.
Nurture Groups cater for part of the spectrum and are for specifically identified children. Ruth felt that some children needed to overcome hurdles in their foundation years and she developed “All Aboard” which targets these children and overlaps with the Nurture Group; Nursery being the “first layer” and then Nurture Group in Primary. This then makes a tiered model. These are pre-learning strategies for children who have needs but are not SEN.
If “All Aboard” was successful for a child, it may eliminate the need for the child to go into a Nurture Group. She said that it was about the best use of resources for a school. It was a shorter-term strategy or 1 term whereas Nurture Group placements were intended to be approximately 3 – 4 terms.
Ruth is to produce a flyer in relation to some training she is to run from Christmas through to the Summer, aimed at Managers and practitioners. Linda will send this round the Network when it is published.
Ruth then went through the Powerpoint she has produced in connection with “All Aboard”. A copy of the handouts is attached to these minutes, for information.
3 / Reminder: Linda Chevasse – Assessment Info
If anyone has any Assessment Information, please e-mail this direct to:
4 / Update Regarding Behaviour Support Questionnaire
Alison informed the meeting that the Behaviour Support Questionnaire previously put on Bradford Schools Online had to be withdrawn as it was in the wrong format. This has now been amended/improved and is now available on the following link:
https://bso.bradford.gov.uk/news/6333-integrated-behaviour-support-service-survey
The questionnaire is primarily aimed at Headteachers and SENCos.
5 / Conference – 2 July 2013
The conference “Developing Nurturing Schools within the Ofsted Framework” took place on Tuesday 2 July 2013 at the Mercure Hotel, Bingley and was a great success; thanks to all who contributed.
6 / Good News? New Ideas? Good Practice to Share?
· Helen Foakes at Brackenhill informed the meeting that they have applied for the Quality Mark and are also starting a KS2 Nurture Group.
· Alison reminded everyone that as it is close to the end of term, there will be some end-of-term activities which some Nurture Group pupils may need to be prepared for. They may need to know what the day/activity will look like, where it is, etc.
· SDQ (Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire). Alison stated that this is different to the Boxall and is a snapshot of the child’s behaviour patterns. It is an evaluation tool to be completed by parents and school so show whether behaviour patterns are the same at home and at school.
· Thornton Primary reported that they had done two trips with pupils from their Nurture Group to Eureka and that both trips had gone very well.
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7 / Nurture Group Training
· 3-day Accredited Training – 18/19 November 2013 and 20 January 2014 (cost £450)
· Introduction to Nurture Groups (half day course) – 10 October 2013 (cost £75). Alison stated that this is a good course for Headteacher and Senior Leaders as it gives an overview/snapshot of nurturing.
Proposed dates of future meetings
The first date from the draft meeting dates which had been circulated has had to be changed because this clashed with a Keighley Hub meeting; it is now 4 October 2013. The dates are now confirmed.
Date / Time / Place
Friday 4 October 2013 / 09.30 – 11.00 am / Hollingwood Primary School
Friday 6 December 2013 / 09.30 – 11.00 am / Sandy Lane Primary School
Friday 7 February 2014 / 09.30 – 11.00 am / To be arranged
Friday 21 March 2014 / 09.30 – 11.00 am / To be arranged
Friday 16 May 2014 / 09.30 – 11.00 am / To be arranged
Friday 27 June 2014 / 09.30 – 11.00 am / To be arranged
There was the usual opportunity to stay on after the end of the meeting to network with colleagues/ask questions/consider assignments, etc.
Bradford Nurture Group Contact: Alison Smith - Mobile 07718025014
Admin: Linda Whittingham – 01274 385616
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