Have you heard of/experience of 'nurture groups'?

[Imsosorryalan]

I've just been heard about them and wondered if any one has had experience of them in schools etc? I'd like to introduce one in our school but not sure if they actually work?

My daughter was in a nurture group for confidence etc at primary. it was really good for her and it helped her bridge the gap by helping her talk It and get to know children when she had poor self esteem. If used for social ,communication intervention as at my girls school I cannot see a downside.

My very shy daughter was in one for YR. It was a small group that was taken out of the class and they played games etc for confidence building. It was good for her and the teacher and I both saw an increase in confidence.

This was used for a child in my sons class. He has asd / dyspraxic traits which the school (and parents) never really acknowledged. The nurture group was to target self esteem - he felt he had no friends. They did some games etc and spoke to some of the other children in the class.
It didn't really work longer term because it didn't address that he was being bullied, other children saw him as very young / silly / droning on about special interests. As he got older his traits stood out more and more. He would explode when teased, so some kids teased him just to make him explode / get in trouble. The school never recognised this was happening. He clearly struggled with some social cues and didn't always understand that children who were bullying him were not his friends. He would take jokes literally and get angry. He's been in trouble for hitting etc. Still the school don't get it's his lack of social understanding / immaturity / over reactions that is making him a target and perpetuating this circle. So I think they can be used inappropriately. The school would have been better teaching him social skills, how to read situations, how to manage his reaction, role play how to recognise and deal with teasing, how to talk about interests without boring others etc etc. Like anything you have to be sure you have diagnosed the problem correctly. The problem here wasn't his lack of self esteem, that was a symptom of his friends outgrowing him - the problem was his social and language deficits were becoming more obvious as the gap between him and his peers increased. He needed a social skills programme, help with language (taking things literally) and strategies to walk away from trouble. He needed to be taught social skills more as rules. He was left without the skills he needed to navigate the playground and I really fear for his mental health in high school. My concern is that they can be used for children who have more going on than might be obvious and like Polter says perhaps need something more specialist. I also suspect children tell teachers what they want to hear. None of the children told the adults why they didn't want to be friends with this boy anymore. In fact I would guess they all pretended to like him still. So the teachers then couldn't address that it was because the boy was being seen as silly, stuck on interests they had outgrown etc. Some children might have good insight into their difficulties or the problem may be obvious, but this boy didn't have that insight (and not did the teacher) so the wrong problem was addressed.

My boys school has them and not just for children with special needs.

Ds2 has used one and enjoyed it, friendship issues.

And ds3 also went to his schools one as an injury meant He couldn't play or run around and so dud the quieter/calmer activities at the nurture club.

Anyway one at high school (ds2) and the the one at primary (ds3) enjoyed and benefited from them :)

I have only heard positive things about them.

I thought they were run in parallel to say the infant classes, as a class of 10 with a high staff ratio - for children, who could not cope with the routines and expectations of the classroom, who could not put a sentence together, etc because either of mild SEN or they came from chaotic backgrounds. So, for example the children sat down to eat their meals on tables with tablecloths, cutlery, etc in a social group. The emphasis was on getting used to the routine, socialising, getting their language up to the level of their chronological peers, learning to play, improving attention, etc.