We at Rushey Mead Primary feel that a Nurturing School,
is the best type of school

Therefore, we support children in a variety of ways through the element of Play to achieve their potential because:

• Play is essential for children to develop physically, emotionally and socially.
• It fosters imagination and creativity
• Encourages confidence and concentration.  ​
• It helps children to make friends and learn about their ever expanding world.
• It allows them to learn from mistakes safely
• Play can be used to establish a relationship 

We offer a variety of Interventions please see the attached documents below for our offer.

Our Pastoral Offer

A significant amount of our pastoral offer takes place in May Tree, also known as our Community Room.

 

   

   

   

   

Social Communication Group (Fun Time)

To support inclusive learning, its core benefits are:

• Improved Interaction Skills: Children learn to recognise and respond appropriately to verbal and non-verbal communication, improve friendships and turn taking/sharing and time.
• Conversational Fluency: To improve social communication skills of children in order to develop better conversational skills and interactional skills.
• Social "Rules" Understanding: To improve communicative behaviour and general behaviour in social settings through learning and recognising appropriate and inappropriate behaviour in different settings.
• Academic & Group Work: Because much of the National Curriculum relies on teamwork, these groups help children share ideas clearly, listen to others, and negotiate during group tasks. 
• Self-Esteem & Empathy: Practising these skills in a safe environment helps children build confidence, manage social anxiety, and form friendships. 

This will be achieved in an enjoyable and engaging setting with a range of activities/games. 

Meet and Greet / Soft Starts

For pupils who are struggling with attending school, show anxiety or school phobia, our Student and Pastoral Support Officer liaises with the child and their parents to provide a bespoke support package to enable their child to attend school successfully. Providing a gentle, quiet, play-based transition into the school day.  This will help those students manage anxieties and stress to ease the transition from the home environment to the busy school day. 

Worry Box

A 'Worry Box' will be a dedicated Safe Space box where children can write down their concerns, anxieties, or fears. The box is checked throughout the day and support provided.

Enhanced Transition - Ready for Secondary 

This will take place after SATS for Year 6 students needing additional support for the transition from primary to secondary. This intervention provides pupils with a comprehensive transition experience that will allow them the best possible start on the next step of their education. It also covers timetables, organisation, uniform, rules and expectations as well as providing strategies and teaching for successful interactions with friends and staff.

One-to-one sessions

This system allows our Student and Pastoral Support Officer  (who is a Deputy DSL) to immediately provide same-day support for children. This may be a single session, but may also lead to more regular sessions and check-ins sessions for children to discuss worries and build self-esteem and emotional regulation support depending on what the child needs.

Lego-Based Therapy

Lego-based therapy is a collaborative, play-based intervention that helps children with social communication difficulties to develop teamwork, problem-solving, and verbal and non-verbal communication skills by working together in small groups to build LEGO sets.

Lunchtime Club

We offer an alternative space for children to spend their lunchtime. Children may spend their entire lunchtime there or may visit for a part of it, for example whilst they are eating. Our children eat together with our Student and Pastoral Support Officer, around a table which promotes language, communication, social skills and table manners. We provide a lunchtime club for a variety of reasons,  examples of this include, a child with an injury which prevents them being on the playground, children who find the dining hall a sensory overload and children who are struggling with their eating. Our lunchtime club is located in our Community Room, which is the home of our nurture provision and pastoral interventions, which means it is packed full of toys and games and sensory activities.

Outdoor Learning

We have a variety of outdoor learning provision at Rushey Mead, including an allotment, Forest School, a wild area and a pollination generation garden. Whilst we provide opportunities for all children to access these, we offer additional access for children who would benefit from the opportunity.

Mental Health

We have a Senior Mental Health Lead and several Mental Health First Aiders in our staff team. They have attended training to enable them to support staff and young people with their mental health. Staff seek out people within the team to talk to if and when they need to.

Parental Support

We support parents with a variety of applications to enable them to obtain funding and support they are eligible for. Examples include, household grants, uniform funding, signposting families to food banks and Early Help support. We are also available to talk to parents for other concerns or support needs. We hold a monthly parent coffee morning which enables parents to meet with the Student and Pastoral Support Officer as well as network with each other. This is an informal forum which has given many of our parents a safe place to make friends and have other adults to talk to. 

Adult Learning

We offer space for parents and carers to sign up and attend ESOL (English Speakers of Other Languages) as well as Keeping Up With Your Child English and Maths classes through LASALS. 

Pastoral Gallery

     

Positive People work