The Nest

Every day we try to be the Best we Can whether at home or at school. We aim to come to school eager to learn something new, to grow our talents, and to become the very best person we can be. We aim head home from school, and keep learning, sharing our experiences, our adventures and our friendships with our family.

SEMH RESOURCED PROVISION AT PENNINGTON JUNIOR SCHOOL

RATIONALE AND POLICY

Behaviour in schools is one of the biggest challenges faced in education and it can have a detrimental effect on all involved.  The impact is sometimes obvious and sometimes not so, but it is clear that the effective management of social, emotional and mental health needs is a challenge needs to be embraced and undertaken in order for children to thrive in our educational environments.  The impact of low-level behaviours in the classroom environment can be of great consequence to other learners and adults and the message that the behaviour is trying to communicate often goes unnoticed as the disruptive behaviour becomes the focus.  A big shift in the 2014 SEN Code of Practise happened with the removal of the BESD (Behavioural, Emotional and Social Difficulties) area of need, and the introduction of SEMH (Social, Emotional and Mental Health) as a main need type.  This removes the behaviour as the difficult, and instead focuses on addressing the underlying causes as the difficulty.

Provision for children with SEMH needs is crucial and an area that continually needs refocussing upon and refreshing in order for maximum impact to be seen.  It is our belief that all children have the potential to grow and develop healthily, both physically and mentally, in the right environment, and it is that environment that we seek to provide.

The Nest is a Resourced Provision at Pennington Junior School and offers an alternative way of working to support primary age children with SEMH needs in Hampshire.

These is a unit of 5 children who have social, emotional and mental health needs and a potential to stay in mainstream school. Children have access to this provision with clear plans of how and when they access their mainstream classroom.  It offers short term placements to children who have accessed other county outreach provision and need further support following the graduated response.

An inclusive and positive school ethos helps to underpin the effectiveness of the resource provision. The resource provision needs to be viewed as an extension of the school’s general provision, enabling mainstream pupils and staff, as well as resource provision pupils, to benefit from the additional staffing and resources. It is essential that resources are made available for the resource provision pupils and supporting staff who are reluctant and/or lack the confidence to take a lead role in supporting pupils with SEMH in their classes.  The support of senior leaders is needed to embed the resource provision within the school as a whole.

The resourced provision offers a nurturing environment to support children aged 7-11 with their social, emotional and mental health needs so that they can more successfully access the curriculum. Children have the opportunity to access Pennington Junior School’s facilities at break times and lunch times and when it is appropriate some lessons fully supported by the support staff team.

Our Vision for the RP

Working together in partnership with children and their parents, to change the pathways of as many children as possible with social, emotional and mental health needs to stay in mainstream schools wherever possible.

Our Aims for the RP

•     To support children to stay in a mainstream school.
•     To work holistically with host schools, parents and external agencies to understand behaviour as a communication of emotional needs and develop consistent strategies to support the child through working in partnership.
•     For children to feel happy and safe in a positive nurturing environment.
•     To engage children in learning and motivating them to want to learn.
•     To enable children to see themselves as successful learners and achievers.
•     To enable children to make good progress with their learning.
•     To reflect upon and change ways of thinking about behaviour to enable flexibility of meeting needs.
•     To raise expectations of the child.
•     Through improving self-awareness, to support children in understanding their behaviour, take responsibility for their actions, managing the consequences and changing any unacceptable behaviour.
•     To help children reflect on and communicate feelings rather than act them out.
•     To build levels of self-esteem and confidence in children.
•     To enable children to function appropriately in a group.
•     To support children to build friendships and develop social skills.
•     To enable children to play with their peers.
•     To help children build healthy and mutually trusting relationships.
•     To enable children to ask for help and make use of it.
•     For children to have a sense that they belong.
•     To provide an individualised flexible approach that is responsive to need and maximises inclusion.

Our Beliefs for the SRP

•     Children learn best in an accepting and nurturing environment.
•     Children learn best when they are exposed to learning activities which are developmentally appropriate.
•     Children thrive in an environment where appropriate behaviours are encouraged with the use of positive reinforcement.
•     Children want to be understood.
•     Building self-confidence and self-esteem helps a child to learn.
•     Difficult behaviour is a communication of a child’s inner conflicts and the causes of these conflicts need addressing rather than just ‘putting a sticking plaster’ on the behaviour being presented.
•     Children learn best when they have developed secure trusting relationships that are containing and have clear boundaries and expectations.
   

The RP follows the 6 Principles of Nurture to meet children’s social, emotional and mental health needs:

•         Children's learning is understood developmentally
•         The classroom offers a safe base
•         The importance of nurture for the development of self-esteem
•         Language is a vital means of communication
•         All behaviour is communication
•         The importance of transition in children's lives

Staffing

The RP is led by the SENCo who is responsible for the management of the provision. The SENCo is responsible for:

•     assessing children to inform the level of support and needs
•     liaising with external agencies,
•     overseeing the teaching of children whilst they are in the SRP,
•     leading a team of support staff
•     offering support to the school

The RP is supported by 3 teaching assistants. All staff are trained in Team Teach (nationally recognized training in Physical Restrictive Interventions), Restorative approaches and First Aid to ensure the children are kept safe and contained.

The SRP Curriculum

The children in the RP follow curriculum work set by their class teacher, overseen by the SENDCo.  This work is fully differentiated to meet each child’s personalised learning needs.  Due to the nature of difficulties the pupils have experienced in their school life, there are generally a lot of learning gaps that need to be filled.  These are continually assessed to ensure that learning plans remain up to date.

The SRP Environment

The SRP consists of a teaching room, where pupils can come to complete learning and take sensory breaks etc. There are also 2 breakout rooms, one which is allocated as a calm down room and one which offers a more sensory environment.  The resources are varied to meet both educational and emotional needs of the children placed.

Working in Partnership with Parents

The SENCo will keep parents regularly informed through placement review meetings and written reports at regular intervals throughout the child’s placement.

The RP strongly believes that children learn best when home and school are working closely together. The RP has a ‘Working with Parents’ Policy which explains this further.