At St Nicholas CE Primary School we work closely with our service families to ensure all of our pupils have a smooth and happy transition when they join the St Nicholas family. We pride ourselves on supporting our service pupils leading up to, and for the duration of, deployments and we work closely with our service children to prepare them when they move on and are set to begin a new adventure.

 

When a new pupil arrives in our school, we welcome them with open arms and quickly identify their own individual needs. Our amazing teachers and Emotional Literacy Support Assistants (ELSAs) work closely with our new arrivals to find out what makes them tick and help them to feel cared for and valued. We want them to feel like part of the team from day one.

 

Our whole curriculum is specifically designed to support pupils who arrive at the school later in their academic life and may leave before they reach the end of Year 6. Those that stay with us for the duration of their primary career will also benefit greatly from the way that our curriculum is structured. We achieve this by ensuring key concepts are revisited frequently and by identifying our children's individual needs quickly upon their arrival and providing rapid interventions to fill any gaps to build confidence.

 

When parents are serving overseas or away from the family home for extended periods of time we understand the challenges that face families. Our ELSAs, who are specially trained in supporting children with a variety of emotional needs, will meet one to one with our children facing deployment and, where the children would benefit, offer small group sessions with other pupils with similar experiences. Please find our Exercise/ Deployment Form below and fill this in once you have been made aware of an upcoming deployment.

 

We also like to celebrate the amazing extra benefits associated with being part of a service family and encourage all of our service pupils to share their unique experiences.