Osamu's Story - Barnardo's See Hear Respond Programme

Meet Osamu

Osamu is 4 years old and lives in London with his mum, dad and younger brother, attending nursery at a primary school in the borough of Waltham Forest.

He was a very quiet, sensitive and reserved child, and having only started nursery in September 2020, had already experienced two long-term interruptions to his education.

Since the start of the second lockdown, Osamu had felt upset and could not understand why he couldn't go to school. It was felt by nursery and the parents that the progress he had made in the first couple of months had been undone because of the lockdown, making him further behind on his personal social and emotional development.

Compared to the other children, Osamu lacks confidence when playing with his peers; he is not forthcoming and will not share with the other nursery children. He is working at below the average expectations at EYFS stage and was chosen to go on Barnardo's See, Hear, Respond programme because his mother was concerned about him.

Sea, Hear, Respond support for the whole family

Despite Osamu's nursery providing positive prompts and reassurance (a power point explaining nursery changes using pictures), he found it extremely difficult to settle, constantly asking when nursery would open and if it would close again when he went back.

During the third lockdown, Osamu further regressed as he fell behind on key skills, affecting him emotionally.

This is where we stepped in. Learning Hive delivered online sessions in drama, STEM workshops and emotional well-being for the whole family to join in. By partnering with Osamu's school, we were able to offer the Zoom sessions to Osamu's nursery friends and teachers which gave him the opportunity to interact with his peers online. The familiarity helped him a lot.

Mum made sure Osamu attended every online session to keep him in a routine and, since the classes had been tailored for KS1 children, they were fun and engaging, meaning Osamu looked forward to his online interactions.We also specifically weaved animals into some of the sessions as Osamu loves animals!

Positive outcomes

The online programme enabled Osamu to see his friends and nursery staff and he enjoyed the sessions very much. At first, he was shy and not forthcoming but some of the drama sessions covered topics about animals and since then he has been very attentive and engaged on the programme.

The school has since introduced some of the techniques used in the programme to communicate to the children via the parents. Learning Hive has also continued to provide additional emotional well-being support for the students.