Minister Paul Givan MLA officially opened the room during a visit to the Portadown school. He was welcomed by principal Andrew Frizzell, members of staff, representatives from the Education Authority (EA) and vice chair of the board of governors, Rev William Adair. Advertisement Advertisement Did you know with an ad-lite subscription to NorthernIrelandWorld, you get 70% fewer ads while viewing the news that matters to you.
The Minister heard from nurture teacher, Heather Handy, how the space – aptly named Hart Haven – is used to help support the needs of children by providing a safe and supportive environment with embedded routines to enable them to enjoy their learning. Nurture groups are a short-term, focused intervention strategy for children to promote and support their social and emotional development. A typical day includes taking time to talk about how the children are feeling and practising strategies for dealing with their emotions, along with working on social and language skills.
The children and staff complete learning tasks and explore the world around them through play. At all stages, the teacher and assistant use these day-today experiences to help and guide the children through the social, emotional and behavioural demands of being in a classroom. Advertisement Advertisement The idea to establish a nurture group at Hart Memorial came about after staff received whole school nurture training from the Nurture Advisory and Support Service within the EA.
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