Some of us have been told that we will be setting up new nurture groups in Sept. The groups have been split between emotional and behavioural. To be honest there is very little in the way of behaviour (what Id call behaviour anyway). I am to run the behaviour group for an hour at lunchtimes. 12.40 - 1.40. I need ideas on what to do with them. Cant really do lunch as they will have already had school lunch by time I get them. Thought about doing circle times, covering most issues and of course if an incident happened we would work on that. Also feel they need 10 mins or so at the end to have a run about and let off steam before going back into classroom. Any ideas welcome. How do I make it their own?

you can make it their own by asking them to help you with the rules for the group and also get some suggestions from themas to what they aant to do

Its a shame you can't have dinner together, after running nurture for 8 years I find this one of the most valuable times, for a lot of the children its one of the only tmes they will sit down together to eat as a 'family' and they love to do all the chores involved like setting the table, making drinks etc and its a great time to discuss things and you will get their full attention

is there anyway you can alter the timing of the group so you can actually have lunch with them in the room you'll be using, if not could they all sit and have lunch together in a quiet corner of the dining room where you could join them

I also am running a nurture group at lunchtimes this year for both behavioural and emotional together. I have insisted on all having lunch together as this is possible in our small school.

I have talked to the kids about what they would like to do and they have come up with ideas like a short circle time followed by fun stuff like the horrible science experiments, which i think are brilliant.

we will be making things like slimy slugs and violent volcanos.

The problem we have is that if there is ever any trouble at school, is it at lunchtime, so we need to get the 'frustrated' ones off the playground/field. To do this, the nurture group has to be somehow enticing and interesting, otherwise they will become easily bored and inevitably won't want to carry on in the group, having a negative impact.

Unfortunately this is where the work comes in, i am having to plan lessons so to speak, to make sure that i know what i am doing and keep the interest factor high.

Wish me luck

There are lots of fast and furious circle time games as well as the ones in the circle some involve co-operation. I went on a course with a child and learnt 36 games. Ask you're local PRU unit.

My self and another TA have just started a social skills/ circle time group at our high school . We have a 50 min session a week. There are just 8 pupils. We got them to write some "rules" up and each week we talk about a different subject and play games inbetween. They seem to enjoy it so far.

Our school's group has a varied timetable and is based on building confidence, friendships amongst those who struggle and making lunchtime an enjoyable experience. The group
* Use Computer suite
* Have art days
* Play board games
*Go on to the field with equipment
* Gardening

Also the SEAL programme is excellent you can download it from the DfES site