Chris Chimes

Strategies for Nurture

Fane Street Primary School

Over recent years the school has welcomed many newcomer children into the school and has developed a number of strategies to nurture, support and educate children with a range of needs.

Chris Chimes is the Nurture teacher in Fane Street Primary School. The nurture provision is through the whole school and Chris is responsible for a nurture group each morning building confidence and developing five key skills of looking, listening, listening concentrating and speaking. He is also responsible for group interventions and daily check-ins with pupils across the school.


This video outlines the setting up of a direct phone line to the nurture teacher during the period of lockdown. The phone line was used to maintain the existing nurture provision, continue to develop relationships and remove barriers to effective communication. The impact has been that Chris has been able to maintain contact with a number of children and ensure that the best learning experiences can be explored.

Key learning

  • Use strategies that suit the context of the school and the community

  • Relationships are key to learning

  • Meet the school community where they are and use strategies to maintain consistency with the pupils and parents

Questions to consider when engaging the school community:

  • What strategies do you already have in place to build and maintain relationships in your school?


Further resources

Fane Street Primary School: @fanest_ps