A nurture group is a short-term, school-based intervention where up to 12 pupils with social, emotional and mental health needs are taught by two trained staff, part-time, while staying on the mainstream class register. Children keep their place in their usual class and join the group for set sessions each week, often over two or three terms, before they reintegrate fully. The model comes from nurtureuk, the charity that originated it, and it is recommended by Ofsted, Estyn and Education Scotland.
The six principles a nurture group is built on
A nurture group is not just a small class. It runs on six principles of nurture, which shape how the room, the routine and the adults work:
| Principle | What it means in the room |
|---|---|
| Learning is understood developmentally | Meet the child at the stage they are at, not their age. |
| The classroom is a safe base | A predictable, calm space the child can rely on. |
| Nurture matters for wellbeing | Warmth and attentive care come before academic demand. |
| Language is vital communication | Adults narrate, name feelings and model talk. |
| All behaviour is communication | Read what a child is telling you, not just what they do. |
| Transitions matter | Plan and support every change, large or small. |
How to run one
Running a nurture group well comes down to a handful of decisions that the strongest provision gets right and the weakest skips:
- Identify pupils with the Boxall Profile. Use the Boxall Profile to pick children on identified SEMH need, not on behaviour incidents. Children do not need an EHC plan or a clinical diagnosis to attend.
- Staff it with two trained adults. Classic nurture groups run with two members of staff who have completed nurture training, usually a teacher and a teaching assistant.
- Keep it small and part-time. Up to about 12 pupils, attending for set sessions while they stay on their mainstream class register and their own class for the rest of the week.
- Structure it around the six principles above, with a settled routine, shared snack time and a part-school, part-home feel.
- Time-limit it and plan reintegration. Re-run the Boxall Profile to measure progress and set the point at which a child returns full-time. A place is a stepping stone, not a destination.
Why the non-statutory point matters
A nurture group is not a statutory entitlement and it is not an EHC plan requirement. It is one way a mainstream school can meet its duty to use its best endeavours to secure provision for pupils with special educational needs (section 66 of the Children and Families Act 2014), and SEMH is one of the four broad areas of need in the SEND Code of Practice 2015. That means a nurture group sits alongside, not instead of, your SEN Support and the graduated approach of assess, plan, do, review. It works best as part of a senior-led, whole-school nurturing culture with trained staff behind it. The common failure mode is the opposite: an unstaffed room used as a sin-bin, or an open-ended placement no child ever leaves. Successive controlled studies of classic Boxall nurture groups show real gains in children's social, emotional and behavioural wellbeing when the model is run as intended.
Where the law comes from
Related
This page is general information, not clinical or legal advice.