Welcome to Orchard!  

At Chestnuts, Orchard is run to support children with Social, Emotional and Mental Health needs. Nurture staff support children from across the school, within the provision and when children are transitioning back to their mainstream classes. The nurture team, who are experienced in supporting pupils with a wide range of additional needs, have an intuitive understanding of children’s developmental needs and how to create positive relationships at an appropriate level.  

The six principles of nurture underpin what we do for our children while they are working in Orchard. These are as follows: 

1. Children’s learning is understood developmentally  
2. The classroom offers a safe base  
3. The importance of nurture for the development of self-esteem  
4. Language is a vital means of communication  
5. All behaviour is communication  
6. The importance of transition in children’s lives  

The children within Orchard also experience a broad and balanced curriculum, receiving their core learning in small group, or one to one teaching sessions, and their foundation subject learning through topics which are planned to develop the next steps in their learning. For example, Orchard have been learning geography, science and art through their work on plants, finding out where in the world they grow, what they need to grow, naming the parts of a plant, locating and naming different plants and then, finally, creating their own examples.