Building on a successful three years of educating complex and vulnerable primary children in London and the Home Counties, TCES Create Primary has some important changes planned for September.
The changes are aimed at making an even greater positive impact on the life chances of neurodiverse children who are unable to thrive in mainstream education and have often faced permanent exclusion as a result.
Behind the new partnership: (left to right) Ricardo Hylton (Headteacher), Alison Grimshaw (Joint CEO, Nurture International), Yvonne Monaghan (Joint CEO, Nurture International), Thomas Keaney (Founder and CEO, TCES)
New Nurture partnership
Providing a holistic curriculum to small classes of children, rooted in a therapeutic educational approach, has always been at the heart of what we do at Create Primary.
From September, our brand-new partnership with Nurture International will provide us with additional opportunities to embed Nurture principles into all aspects of school life.
This will include comprehensive ongoing CPD for all staff to ensure that the latest neuroscientific research into how neurodiverse pupils learn best is always at the forefront of our practice.
To reflect the centrality of the Nurture approach, the school will become TCES Nurture Primary from the new school year.
Extension to Year 7
On joining TCES Nurture Primary, every pupil spends their first term being carefully assessed in terms of their strengths and challenges and concerning needs identified in their Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP).
This ensures we can create a timetable and level of therapeutic support which is fully individualised and targeted at taking every child on a journey from isolation to independence.
For some children, their level of need and childhood trauma can mean they need a little longer within our primary setting.
In response to feedback from parents, from September children will be able to stay with us for as long as they need to into Year 7 to ensure a softer transition to their secondary environment.
In most cases, this means moving to TCES East London, where they will benefit from the same therapeutic education approach as TCES Nurture Primary.
TCES Founder and CEO, Thomas Keaney says:
“We opened Create Primary in 2021 in response to increasing demand from local authorities, parents and schools for earlier intervention for neurodiverse children.
“Three years on I’m very proud to say that we have made a significant difference to scores of families and set children on positive pathways they never thought they’d tread.
“Our new partnership with Nurture International reaffirms our commitment to the Nurture principles that have allowed us to make these breakthroughs with children whom others had labelled as simply ‘too difficult’.
“I’m looking forward to working with Nurture International Co-CEOs Yvonne and Alison, as we continue to integrate Nurture throughout the school to its highest level as an antidote to children’s trauma and unmet needs.”
