A member of Dales Academies Trust
The Willow – Nurture Provision at Carnagill Primary School
The Willow is a dedicated nurture unit designed to provide additional social, emotional, and behavioural support for a small group of service pupils across Catterick Garrison. Staffed by a specialist team—one teacher and two teaching assistants—The Willow supports around 6–8 children at a time, offering a predictable, calm, and consistent environment that helps pupils build trusting relationships and re-engage positively with learning.
The unit is funded through ‘The Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust’ to improve outcomes, SEND provision and social and emotional development for pupils from military families. Their support of funding has ensured that the unit has the right staff, the right environment and the right support for pupils who need it most.
Our nurture provision follows a short‑term, focused intervention model aimed at reducing barriers to learning. It is grounded in attachment theory and informed by current neuroscience, recognising that children need secure, positive relationships in order to thrive. The Willow offers a safe, home‑like space where pupils can develop the confidence, resilience, and emotional skills needed to succeed in the mainstream classroom.
Each day is carefully structured to balance academic learning with opportunities for social and emotional development. Through small‑group and individual teaching, children receive targeted support to strengthen their wellbeing and improve their readiness to learn.
By addressing social, emotional, and mental health (SEMH) needs in a nurturing, inclusive way, The Willow helps pupils to make strong progress—both in their academic achievement and in their overall wellbeing.
How will the Nurture approach help a child
The approach will help develop:
- Self-esteem and confidence
- A positive feeling about school
- Sharing and taking turns
- Understanding and managing of emotions
- Strategies to manage in a classroom setting
- Relationship building and maintenance
- A readiness to learn
The nurture staff create a safe and structured environment with trusting relationships at the core of the approach.
The pupils who are identified as requiring this support provision are carefully selected according to their individual holistic profile of needs, identified using the Boxall profile whilst ensuring the establishment of a cohesive nurture group.
Six Principles of Nurture
- Children’s learning is understood developmentally.
In the nurture provision, staff will support pupils in response to their Boxall profile which is individualised and underpinned by a non-judgemental and accepting attitude
- The classroom offers a safe base
The nurture provision offers a balance of experiences aimed at supporting the development of the pupils’ relationship with each other and with the staff. The provision is organised around a structured day with predictable routines with adults who are reliable and consistent in their approach.
- Nurture is important for the development of self-esteem
Nurture involves listening and responding. Adults engage with pupils in reciprocal shared activities. Pupils respond to being valued and thought about as individuals, so in practice this involves noticing and praising small achievements. Time is taken to support the small things.
- Language is understood as a vital means of communication
Pupils are supported to put feelings into words. The vocabulary used with pupils is key to their understanding and development of ‘naming’ their feelings. Informal opportunities for talking and sharing are an important part of the day. Words are used to espress feelings and opportunities are created for extended conversations and encouraging role play to understand the feelings of others.
- All behaviour is a communication
This principle underpins the adult response to the children’s challenging behaviour. All adults consider “What is the child trying to tell me?” Understanding what a child is communicating through behaviour helps staff respond in a firm but non-punitive way by not being provoked or discouraged. If a child sense their feelings are understood, this can support to diffuse the situation
- Transitions are significant in the lives of children
Transitions are a huge part of the military life. The nurture provision will support a variety of transitions, including between schools and from home to school. The nurture provision recognises that numerous transitions occur on a daily basis, and routines are set to offer predictability and consistency. Any changes to routine are carefully managed and supported.
Curriculum
Background and Research
Effective nurture group curriculum planning is a highly complex process that needs to take account of identified social and emotional targets identified by the Boxall Profile® (Bennathan and Boxall, 1998); relevant National Curriculum age-related programmes of study (DfE, 2013); the Six Principles of Nurture (Lucas, Insley and Buckland, 2006); and relevant mainstream planning. Many nurture groups use a thematic approach to planning based on cross-curricular themes that can be defined as “a framework in which existing curricula can be organised” (Lau, Lee-Man and Lung, 1999, p.18).
Also, the nurture group curriculum needs to take account of unplanned effects of teacher activity (Kelly, 2004) that allows the necessary flexibility to promote effective dialogue (Mercer, 2009) and adapt to the need for support through appropriate modelling (Cooper and Whitebread, 2007) and/or reciprocal scaffolding (Holton and Clarke, 2006).
The mainstream curriculum may not be appropriate for all pupils, as some pupils need a modified curriculum (Sonnet, 2010).
Boxall (2002) emphasised the need to plan the curriculum based on pupils’ developmental age rather than their chronological age and that the curriculum may need to be modified depending on pupils’ circumstances.
Curriculum Information/Outline
A nurture provision curriculum in primary school focuses on improving social, emotional, and behavioural skills to remove barriers to learning. It is a short-term, focused intervention that uses a supportive, relationship-based approach to help children develop confidence, self-respect, and resilience. Key features include shared activities like meals, which provide opportunities for social learning, a focus on emotional regulation and language development, and a safe, predictable environment based on the six principles of nurture.
Core components of the curriculum
- Addressing social and emotional needs: The curriculum’s primary goal is to support the emotional well-being of children, as this is seen as fundamental for academic success.
- Developing social skills: Through shared activities like mealtimes and group work, children learn vital social skills, empathy, and how to interact positively with peers and adults.
- Promoting emotional regulation: A central part of the curriculum is teaching children to recognize their emotions and learn ways to manage them effectively.
- Building language and communication: There is a strong emphasis on verbalizing feelings and ensuring that children have the language to communicate them, with adults modelling reciprocal conversations.
- Creating a safe and predictable environment: The classroom is designed to be a safe base where children feel secure. This is achieved through consistent routines, clear expectations, and the reliability of the adults.
Children will have opportunities to learn through exploratory play and continuous provision. Workstations will also be used for focused activities and to work towards specific targets with children. Staff will plan activities for children to reflect their interests. They will assess their progress towards their targets and provide suitable activities to support each child’s individual journey.
For all children, in all key stages within the Nurture provision, the overall intent is that each pupil engages, achieves and makes the most personal progress they can over time to enable them to have the most fulfilling, enjoyable and independent life possible.
Staff carefully assess each pupil’s abilities using a range of frameworks appropriate to a child’s developmental level and plan the next individual pupil steps in all curriculum areas. Teachers work with parents/carers and any linked professionals to target the next key steps in priority areas that include communication/understanding, personal/social development and key skills.
Thematic planning is used as an effective and flexible way of blending statutory requirements, mainstream provision, relevant pupil targets and pupil interests.
