Les Voies nurture zone has a positive effect on behaviour

A community effort has seen an area of the school for young people with social, emotional and mental health difficulties repurposed into a multi-purpose ‘nurture zone’ space.

Students at the school expressed their gratitude and appreciation for having the area to help them cope with their daily challenges in a mature way.

‘It’s the best thing that ever happened in this school,’ said Blaize Le Sauvage, 16. ‘One of the things I’ll miss the most.’

Blaize, an alumni of Les Voies and previous member of its junior leadership team, recently achieved her target of 5 A* to C GCSE grades, including mathematics and English, and is now looking forward to beginning the public services course at the Guernsey College of Further Education this September.

‘It’s not just about Blaize getting her English and maths GCSEs and all the other qualifications, it’s about her as a person going out into the world and being able to engage and be a positive part of the community,’ said head teacher Jonathan Furley.

After consultation and feedback from former students and from staff, an idea was formed as to what additional facilities would be of most benefit to the school and its students.

The completed nurture zone still includes some traditional classroom spaces along with new wellbeing spaces, meeting rooms, professional space and a sensory garden with a denoted calm corner.

Featured in the garden’s calm corner, sponsored by charity Smile for Georgie, is a large, intricate canvas illustration of a bumblebee by local artist Tiffany Anna.

A favourite inhabitant of the new development is school therapy dog Luna.

Mr Furley expressed his thanks to Wellbeing Animals Guernsey, which helped to train Luna to ensure she was good tempered and equipped to support students at the school.

Since last September, Les Voies has recorded a 76% reduction in negative incidents involving students in school.

Mr Furley hoped that this reduction might have been influenced by the new nurture zone.

With work beginning in February 2020, the space was finished eight months later.

Mr Furley and the team at Les Voies thanked the sponsors of the project.

A wide range of organisations, including Kleinwort Hambros, Julius Baer, Neon Sapphire and many others donated both funds and staff time, volunteering numerous hours to assist with tasks such as the painting of the sensory garden.

Mr Furley already has his next ideas for the school lined up.

Future projects will look to install climbing equipment and refurbish the school’s music hut, with an aspirational goal of an all-weather sports pitch.

Mr Furley acknowledged that he and the team had underestimated the six-figure budget that would be required for a modest all-weather pitch and that the school was seeking sponsorship for this ambitious project.