A CAERNARFON school is celebrating after gaining national recognition for its caring efforts to encourage its children's development.

Ysgol Maesincla, has been given ‘Nurture School’ accreditation, part of a national programme that aims to help pupils share their feelings and communicate.

Over the years, the school has set up four nurture groups, with up to 10 pupils per group.

In the groups, pupils discuss their feelings and develop their communication, co-operation and interpersonal skills. It also helps with their self-confidence and self-image.

Parents are encouraged to join in classes to celebrate successes and special occasions.

The school says it "felt strongly" that the principles of the nurture groups were important for the whole school.

In 2017, Ysgol Maesincla started its journey with the National Nurturing Schools Programme, run by NurtureUK.

Councillor Cemlyn Rees Williams, Gwynedd Council's Cabinet Member for Education, said: "I would like to congratulate everyone at Ysgol Maesincla for receiving this recognition.

"It is good to see that the staff, pupils and parents have enthusiastically adopted the principles of the ‘Nurture School,' with very positive results.

“The ‘National Nurturing Schools Programme’ allows staff to develop and embed a nurturing culture throughout their schools, enhancing teaching and learning, promoting healthy outcomes for children and young people, all by focusing on emotional needs and development as well as academic learning in a whole-school environment.”

Manon Gwynedd, Head of Ysgol Maesincla, said: “As the headteacher I am proud that the school has received the ‘Nurture School' accreditation.

"The nurture principles have now successfully spread throughout the school, and the culture of a ‘Nurture School' is central to our vision.

"There are daily thoughtfulness sessions, walls for children to record feelings during the day, visual schedules, regular circle time to discuss and solve problems and quiet areas in each class to encourage children to self-manage their emotions.

“As a result, the school has seen the number of exclusions falling, attendance improving, parents being more willing to come to school and the child / parent questionnaire data showing an increase in positive attitude to the school. I would like to thank everyone for all their hard work over the years to develop this programme at the school.”

‘Nurture School' workshops were held in October, 2018 detailing the spread of nurture groups provisionn open invitation to secondary and primary schools, consortia, the Local Education Authority and school stakeholders.

Stalls offered a presentation and practical examples of applying the six principles within a school context.

In November 2018 the school was invited to present the ‘Nurture School' workshop in the Welsh Assembly, as part of a day promoting aspects of wellbeing in schools.

In August 2019 Estyn published a case study of the school's good practice developing pupils' skills through encouragement.

As part of the scheme, the six principles of Nurture underpins the work of the groups, adapted into the language of children:

They are:

Here I am Safe (the classroom offers a secure foundation), Here I am trying to be brave when things change (the importance of change in children's lives), Here I am happy, healthy and content (the importance of nurturing and encouraging for the development of wellbeing), here I show and tell how I feel (all behaviour is a way of communicating), here I can listen and talk to you (language is an essential way of communicating) and here I learn step by step (children are developmentally understood).