Nursery World - Inclusion

At London setting Tuffkid – from the Hebrew word meaning ‘purpose’ – children with SEND flourish alongside their mainstream peers, explains Annette Rawstrone

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Step inside Tuffkid Nursery, part of Kisharon, and you’ll see children playing and supporting each other, whatever their needs and abilities.

‘Despite a third of our children having complex special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), it doesn’t feel like a special needs setting but a mainstream one,’ says nursery manager Janice Marriott. The 30-place nursery, rated Outstanding by Ofsted, was established in Barnet, north London 17 years ago by two sets of parents who could not find suitable Jewish provision in the area for their children with SEND.

They named it Tuffkid, a Hebrew word that means ‘purpose’. Chani Halpen, one of the founders, explains, ‘I honestly felt that my son, who has severe developmental delay following brain damage at birth, was given to us for a purpose. Also that he could cope, he was tough, so the name felt right in both languages.

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