Aorangi School putting strong emphasis on nurturing with Nurture Room

Matua Victor Mercep with pupils in Aorangi School's Nurture Room. Photo / Andrew Warner

A Rotorua primary school has been working hard to provide emotional wellbeing and learning for pupils, and it's catching the attention of other schools.

Aorangi School has been running the Nurture Group since 2017 and has been working with child and educational psychologist Dr Adrian Minks to help strengthen their programme with a Nurture Room.

When the 8.30am bell rings, Year 5 and 6 boys in the group have breakfast in the room, and Matua Victor Mercep checks in on how they are feeling and what goals they have for the day.

The pupils attend formal learning until returning to the Nurture Room at 1.30pm.

Principal Debra Harrod said there was a different focus in the afternoons each weekday, including emotional literacy/topic/art, group activities, trips and cooking days.

Pupils who took part in the group might be new to the school, living in emergency housing, or suffering setbacks for numerous reasons.

Harrod said the group and Nurture Room had been wonderful for the school with a lot of work on emotional literacy and confidence.

"The difference in some of their behaviour has markedly improved.

"This group of boys will probably go back into normal classes at the end of the term.

"Our next goal is to work more with some of our junior students."

Harrod said Matua Victor Mercep, who ran the Nurture Room, was a great asset.

Mercep said sometimes the boys come to school feeling sad with what's happening at home.

"It's up to us to turn that around and get them feeling better and ready for learning.

"If I can alter the path of one child for the better then I'm doing something right."

He said they had lots of exciting things planned for the next few weeks, including a trip to Hot 'n' Cold to learn about geothermal activity and landmarks.

Mercep said it was nice to now have their own space and the pupils had even made a special design on his chair for the room.

"It's more than a classroom, it's somewhere the boys can confide in me. Sometimes our boys need that connection."

Dr Adrian Minks said Nurture Groups, established in the United Kingdom in the early 1970s, were a restorative intervention for children who had either missed key emotion developmental phases or struggled to cope with social, emotional and mental health difficulties.

"Children who are impacted by poor socio-economics can have significant gaps in their holistic development.

"A child's brain has to have a readiness for the demands of the school day."

Minks knew of at least two other local schools who were keen to visit Aorangi School's set-up.

"Children attending these other schools are likely to have the same gaps in their holistic development."

He said children would struggle to progress academically until their emotional "foundations" were secure.

"For many of the young children we work with, school is their safe space.

"If we are to build good citizens for the future then there is a need to think of a child's social, emotional and mental health well-being as part of their essential holistic development."