SummaryThis article is an account of a nurture group set up in an urban school in consultation with the school educational psychologist. It was planned as a short‐term intervention to help a group of first year children, who were failing at school and behaving in an immature and often disruptive way.The establishment of the group was an acknowledgement to the parents that their children were experiencing difficulties at school and at the same time an invitation to them to join with the school in an attempt to encourage the children to overcome their difficulties.By the end of the term and a half in which the group functioned, all the children had, to varying degrees, begun to behave more appropriately in the classroom and were showing a greater willingness to learn. The author, through her experiences as the teacher in the nurture group, drew the conclusion that the combination of the opportunities in the nurture group to play and make a close relationship with teacher, and the increased involvement and understanding of the children's mothers in their life at school helped this group of children develop a more positive attitude towards learning in the infant school.