Inclusive and Nurturing Schools Programme: six months in

7 school children sitting opposite a teacher

The transformational Inclusive and Nurturing Schools (INS) Programme, commissioned by the London Violence Reduction Unit, is now in its sixth month of delivery. The programme aims to keep children safe, supported, and thriving in school, tackle exclusions, and ensure children and young people have healthy relationship behaviours and attitudes. Nurtureuk’s INS Programme Manager Jenny Perry shares her thoughts on the programme so far.

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We are now six months into the Inclusive and Nurturing Schools Programme working with 70 schools across seven London boroughs, alongside our colleagues from Tender Education and Arts. What a six months it has been!

Fifty schools across five boroughs have started their nurturing journey through the Inclusion strand, whilst an additional ten schools from one borough are well underway with their work on the Healthy Relationships strand. 

A fundamental part of this programme, and what is at the core of the nurturing approach, is relationships. Strong, healthy, secure and trusting relationships help pupils to feel safe, staff to feel heard, and provide a sense of belonging for all. 

Whilst a large part of my role as Programme Manager involves spreadsheets and Gantt charts, the beginning of each new programme gives me the great privilege of meeting with school senior leaders before they start. It is an opportunity to talk through the programme, answer any questions and, most importantly, listen to them talk with pride and hope about their schools, their staff and their pupils. Despite all that is going on around them and everything that they still have to wade through in this post-pandemic world, they are all realistic but optimistic about the future and they all, without exception, have placed their pupils and the school community at the centre of all they do. That is why they want to be part of the Inclusive and Nurturing School’s programme.

This has come at the perfect time” is a phrase I have heard over and over again from head teachers and inclusion leads. The Covid-19 pandemic, the current cost of living crisis, and a society that shares negativity and doom on social media at every opportunity, is having a huge impact on the social, emotional and mental health of our children, their families and our teachers. 

Nurture helps to tackle this by getting to the root of children’s social, emotional and mental health difficulties and provide schools with the help they need to deliver the right support. It improves attendance, behaviour and attainment and ensures every child is able to learn. It supports schools in strengthening the relationships they have with all members of the community. Through the Healthy Relationships strand of the programme, Tender Education and Arts aim to empower the whole school community to address sexual harassment and gender-based violence by providing education, training and guidance.

The INS Programme offers participating schools training on a range of subjects including the Boxall Profile® Online, resources, activities and enrichment days to support training or to use with young people in the classroom, expert-led networking opportunities, and bespoke consultancy so that we are meeting the needs of every individual school.

The importance of transitions in children’s lives: managing successful transition to the summer holidays

A girl jumping in the air trying to catch bubbles

On a daily basis, there are numerous transitions children and young people make in school, e.g. between sessions and classes and between different adults. Our education professionals know that changes in routine are invariably difficult for some children and young people and need to be carefully managed with preparation and support. It is often perceived that the summer holidays are something which all parents and children look forward to but in fact, for some of our more vulnerable children and young people and their families or carers, this can be a challenging time of the year.

Structure and routine reassures children and young people in need of a nurturing approach and often the last weeks of school will be different from the norm, so they may well be unsettled to begin with. This could mean that they are dysregulated or easily upset, even though they are theoretically “looking forward” to no more school for six weeks. It is not just an issue for children and young people either, even adults can find a change in the normal routine challenging as differences in routine can affect the way we usually interact with our children and young people leading to uncertainty as to how to best support them.

Here at nurtureuk we know it is important to plan for transition and support it, with a view to reducing anxiety and promoting security. We have collated a few ideas for parents and carers for you here to help with that transition with some helpful links to free resources and advice to ensure that the summer holidays are fun and enjoyable for everyone. Before you look at the links here is some advice for your holiday plans from a nurturing approach perspective:

As always, we advocate developmentally appropriate approaches to ensure that each child or young person is learning and having fun at their own pace and level. When we support at their stage not age, we break down the barriers to learning and engagement and tap into the things that they enjoy and respond to, leading to renewed confidence and a sense of fun. When you look at the resources we have shared with you think of the following points:

  • Could my child access this activity as it stands?
  • How can I simplify this? (Through short achievable steps for example)
  • How can I make this more challenging? (Some children and young people who need a nurturing approach may be academically and intellectually strong and enjoy being challenged.)
  • What are my child’s strengths, how can I make sure I utilise them in this activity?
  • Can I build their interests into this activity?
  • Using this as inspiration, have I got any ideas like this myself which I can build into further plans?
  • How can I make sure this is fun? Fun, laughter, and joy are key for positive regard and building trusting, loving relationships. When trusting bonds are created the limbic system deep within our brains responds and creates a feeling of warmth and connectivity that can help your child grow in confidence and self-esteem, leading to a sense of feeling safe enough to take the risk to learn something new.

Wishing you all a happy and reviving summer break and a chance to recharge for the Autumn Term.

Resources, advice and information

1. Lucy Carmen from Parents Digest has some great advice called Six Tips for Six Weeks, which are:

  • Consider holding onto some routine while being adaptable.
  • Get talking.
  • Have plans for the first week.
  • Keep up with friends over the summer.
  • Keep a record.
  • Don’t feel you have to fill every moment.

She gives detail to these ideas and lots of advice and information to help you and your child have a successful and happy summer along with links to some great summer resources from Twinkle.

2. Education Specialist Katrin Harrow from Family Futures provides some useful tips on how to cope with and manage some changes and transitions your child might be facing during the summer break. The article includes discussion around how it may affect looked after or adopted children. She provides us with 8 tips for the summer, with really good ideas and advice.

3. Our final pick is a great blog from the Foster for Coventry website, which has some top tips for the summer break from parents and foster carers, for example: 

“We put a massive piece of paper on the wall with ‘this holiday I would like to…’ in the middle. Everyone can write ideas on. It can range from the everyday ‘play on my scooter’ to the more adventurous ‘climb a mountain’ or mindful ‘watch a sunset’ or educational ‘geek stuff’ or even ‘eat chocolate’!” – Sarah

“We saw an idea on the internet, and we now have a ‘boredom jar’ at home. We put ideas for activities in there – like Lego challenges, do a jigsaw, doodle, write a funny poem, find a bug in the garden – but also jobs that need doing around the house, so when they say “I’m bored” they get to pick something from the jar. It’s a bit of a gamble for them, but it’s also seen as a game. It seems to work!” – Scott

We love this blog because these are real parents and tried and tested ideas!

Celebrate your nurturing journey with a nurtureuk award

A group of secondary school children walking outside

We love celebrating the nurturing journey of our schools! We understand the commitment and hard work that is needed to implement a new culture and ethos that puts the social, emotional and mental health needs of pupils at the heart of education practice. That’s why at nurtureuk we’ve created two awards to recognise outstanding nurture provision: the National Nurturing School Award (NNSA) focusing on a whole-school approach, and the Marjorie Boxall Quality Mark Award (MBQMA) celebrating nurture group provision. 

Our National Nurturing School Award celebrates schools who have completed the National Nurturing Schools Programme (NNSP) and have successfully created a nurturing culture that responds to the social, emotional and mental health needs of its pupils. Assessed against the NNSP standards in areas such as stakeholders, delivery, and leadership and management, successful schools retain the award for three years, after which they have to reapply. 

Pupils attending a National Nurturing School benefit from a whole-school approach that places their strengths and needs at the heart of practice, enabling them to flourish and be the best they can be. The culture helps to grow their confidence whilst improving their attendance and attainment. The award also demonstrates to prospective parents, school inspectors, and the local community the school’s commitment to developing an inclusive ethos where every voice counts.

“The whole process of achieving the [National Nurturing School] award has not been a chore, it’s been a celebration every step of the way.” – Virtual School Kent, 2022

Our Marjorie Boxall Quality Mark Award celebrates outstanding ‘classic Boxall’ nurture group provision. The award was established and refined by key figures in the development of the nurture group model, including Marjorie Boxall herself. The award recognises the dedication and specialist skills of the nurture group staff, and their commitment to supporting children and young people. 

Schools delivering the Boxall Nurture Group® are assessed against a set of quality standards derived from the Six Principles of Nurture and linked to the use of the Boxall Profile® assessment tool. As with the National Nurturing School Award, the MBQMA highlights to external stakeholders the positive impact of a nurture group on pupils who, for a variety of reasons, may be struggling to access the curriculum in a mainstream classroom. 

“It was a very positive experience and it gave us the opportunity to celebrate nurture throughout the whole school. The children were eager to talk about their nurture journey too. I know there will be lots of nurture teachers eager to apply for the reaccreditation and I will be highly recommending it to them all. We are overjoyed to receive this award!” – MBQMA school, 2023

As increasing numbers of schools are turning to nurture interventions to respond to the decline in school attendance, attainment and behaviour, it is vital that we celebrate nurture provision that responds to the social, emotional and mental health needs of all pupils, enabling them to access the education they deserve. 

You can find all our current award recipients on our Awards page. If you’re interested in applying for one of our awards, you can find out more via our website.

Van Gogh School: How nurture is transforming pupils’ lives

Van Gogh Primary School logo

A calm, positive, happy place where children and adults have high expectations of themselves and others and understand how to manage their emotions when life gets tough. Is this a magical land, or a vision of the distant future? No, it’s a school environment that exists here and now, in a deprived area of South London. 

This month I had the pleasure of spending time at Van Gogh Primary School in Stockwell. The school took part in our recent Nurturing London programme, funded by London’s Violence Reduction Unit. 

When you arrive at Van Gogh, the impact of nurture is immediately evident. From the warm and welcoming staff on the school gates who ensure children have been properly fed, to those checking in on children’s emotional states throughout the day – nurture permeates the school, filling every classroom, corridor and lesson plan. 

At Van Gogh, children are thriving and learning like never before, truly engaged in their education and enjoying positive relationships and play. 

This is an impressive turnaround for a school which in 2018 was forced to close its doors due to serious concerns about financial mismanagement and governance together with an inadequate Ofsted rating. 

The school became Van Gogh when it joined the Dunraven Educational Trust. The Trust has developed provision significantly since then and supported headteacher Nadine Bernard to create a truly flourishing school.

Nadine puts the huge improvement in pupils’ social, emotional and mental health, down to the nurturing journey the school has been on, building on the work of founding headteacher, Paul Robinson. As part of the Nurturing London programme, Van Gogh used nurtureuk’s Boxall Profile® to identify children’s needs. The school is still undergoing our National Nurturing Schools Programme, which is allowing it to embed nurture throughout the school culture. Staff also run nurture groups for children with a high level of need. 

Nadine and her team have focused strongly on building good relationships in school and the wider community. The Six Principles of Nurture are evident in all they do. Families feel part of the setting and communication with parents is strong. Teaching staff have also worked hard to ensure children can regulate themselves, and understand what is expected of them in school. Punishment and sanctions have been replaced with a focus on character development. 

Department for Education representatives joined me at the visit to Van Gogh and we were all bowled over by how calm and happy pupils were and how much they genuinely enjoyed learning. 

Nadine shared some impressive data on improvements in behaviour and attendance, and told powerful stories about the achievements of children who had suffered traumas including domestic violence, bereavement and separation from their loved ones. But the children, and the positive energy they exuded, showed us the results for themselves. 

This is what nurturing education looks like and what I believe should be the norm across all schools in the UK.

A recent report from the Children and Young People’s Mental Health Coalition (CYPMHC) on Behaviour and Mental Health in Schools, revealed that sanction-based behaviour management techniques leave some young people feeling “worthless, invisible and disappointed in themselves,” and that these techniques led to them disliking school and experiencing increased feelings of anxiety.

Just walking into Van Gogh School, we could see that pupils and staff felt confident, heard, valued and really enjoyed being in school – pupils are truly ready and able to learn. 

Similarly to CYPMHC’S findings, a new report from the University of Cambridge’s Dr Laura Oxley – highlighted in TES magazine – claims that “the promotion of a ‘sanctions-based’ approach to managing behaviour in government guidance is contributing to an escalation of challenging activity and punitive responses in schools.” 

The report found that the sanctions-based approach is leading to worsening behaviour cultures, and goes on to warn that: “School leaders in England feel compelled to continue using a system of escalating punitive measures to manage student behaviour, even though they recognise that it fails some pupils.”

This needs to change. Teachers and schools need to feel confident and supported to use tried and tested approaches to manage behaviour in their schools that prioritise children’s wellbeing. Moving away from punitive approaches today will help to create the future young person we all want to see; confident, able, emotionally aware, happy individuals who are ambitious for themselves and others. We saw this in abundance at Van Gogh.

As one of the staff members said, the nurture approach works for staff and pupils because “it’s natural and normal.” I would love to see a future where this is being said in all schools across the country.

By Arti Sharma, CEO, nurtureuk 

The impact of a whole-school approach to nurture

Six school children sitting together reading books

Children and young people are struggling with social, emotional and mental health (SEMH) needs like never before. According to the Mental Health Foundation, 75% of children and young people who experience mental health problems aren’t getting the support they need. This greatly affects pupils’ ability to engage with education and learn effectively, which often leads to a decline in school attendance, attainment and behaviour.

More and more schools are turning to nurturing interventions to help address these issues. The nurturing approach is a tried and tested way of helping children and young people develop the vital social skills, confidence and self-esteem needed to help them engage with education. It helps teachers to identify, understand and address individual pupils’ needs, and gives them the tools they need to provide the right support. 

But what does a whole-school approach to nurture look like?

A whole-school approach to nurture involves embedding the Six Principles of Nurture throughout the school and assessing all children and young people’s social, emotional and mental health needs using the Boxall Profile®. A nurturing approach can have the greatest impact when it’s not used in isolation, as it ensures every pupil gets the right support. 

The whole-school approach forms the second stage of our graduated approach to nurture:

The graduated approach to nurture infographic

The process of embedding the Six Principles of Nurture and developing a nurturing culture will be different for every school. It isn’t about signing up to an off-the-shelf programme, but about looking at a school’s core beliefs, its knowledge of its pupils’ needs, and its commitment to supporting them to achieve their very best.  

“Since adopting a more nurturing approach… our school completely changed our behaviour system, moving away from exclusions and moving towards creating a space where young people build and rebuild relationships with staff across the school. We have numerous pupils who have not been excluded because nurture has changed the way we meet their needs. Now we check-in more, make space for them to voice their needs and make more reasonable adjustments and we find that we are managing them, they are managing themselves and they are staying in mainstream education. The unseen work of the nurturing approach is reaching across the school and our pupils are aware that things have changed.” (Nurturing London VRU school, 2022)

Using the Boxall Profile® to assess all pupils allows staff to identify many more children with SEMH needs, particularly those who were ‘hidden’ or previously overlooked, according to the Now You See Us report (2019). Once identified, staff can put appropriate individual or whole-class strategies in place to ensure all pupils get the support they need to help them become able to learn. 

“We have been able to Boxall Profile® the whole school and implement strategies that are beneficially impacting whole classes. We have looked at these results and… included more nurture activities, which has resulted in the children spending curriculum time more focused and with more intent.” (Nurturing Kent School, 2022)

If you are interested in implementing a whole-school approach to nurture, our National Nurturing Schools Programme helps to equip staff with the tools, training and support needed to develop a nurturing culture that enables pupils to thrive. Schools who complete the programme can also apply for the National Nurturing Schools Award. For more information, please visit our website

 

We have updated the Boxall Profile® Online

A tablet which shows the Boxall Profile Online on the screen

The Boxall Profile® Online is an invaluable online teaching resource for the assessment of children and young people’s social, emotional and behavioural development.

After researching and listening to user feedback we have been working hard to update the Boxall Profile® Online and we’re excited to share that the updates are now live.

A computer screen displaying the new Boxall Profile Online assessment tool

What’s new?

We have improved the layout, added much needed functionality such as the creation of custom groups and new ways to view and display data. Other features include:

  • NEW Boxall Profile® Online branding and website
  • NEW Layout 
  • NEW Class/School/Group & Strand View
  • NEW Search, Filtering & Custom Groups
  • NEW End of Year Migration
  • NEW Export Function
  • NEW Help & Support

A computer screen displaying the new Boxall Profile Online assessment tool

To find out more please read our product update blog at www.boxallprofile.org.

Here at nurtureuk we are committed to the ongoing development of the Boxall Profile® Online, to support Educational professionals in understanding the underlying needs of children and young people and to improve access to education for all.

Find out more on our website.

 

Nurture groups: creating a safe base for learning

Four school children and a female teacher

Across the UK, we’re seeing a dramatic spike in anxiety and absentee levels due to the impact of Covid-19 and broader socio-economic challenges. Severe absence has soared by 134% when compared to pre-pandemic levels, and more than a quarter of all children now regularly miss school. We know that 75% of children and young people who experience mental health problems aren’t getting the help they need and this makes it incredibly hard to give them the education they deserve. 

But there are proven ways to tackle this crisis, and increasing numbers of schools are turning to nurture interventions to help.

Nurture groups are small groups of six to 12 children, usually based in a mainstream setting. They are designed to address the social and emotional needs that can hamper pupils’ learning by providing them with the opportunity to build resilience, understand and regulate their emotions, develop essential social skills, and engage with the curriculum. As well as providing academic teaching, nurture groups help children to develop confidence and self-respect, and to take pride in behaving well and achieving. 

They are designed as a short term, part-time, focused intervention where children remain part of their own class group, and usually return full-time within four terms. The groups are based on the Six Principles of Nurture, which underpin the curriculum, context, theory and organisation of the intervention. 

The Six Principles of Nurture infographic

The inclusive and supportive nature of the group, which is led by two members of staff, helps children to feel safe and secure. The nurture staff engage with each child through a clear and predictable daily routine that includes emotional literacy sessions, news-sharing, group activities, curriculum tasks and nurture snack time. 

The friendly, supportive relationship between the two members of staff is also itself an important source of learning – a model for the pupils to observe and copy. Once the children are settled into the daily routine of the nurture group, their mainstream class teacher can be invited to join the children in the room for an activity such as snack time. By doing this, pupils see the two settings as one, ensuring consistency and security for the child, encouraging positive outcomes.

Nurture groups do not work in isolation, and it is vital that all staff understand the purpose of the intervention. Senior leaders should treat the nurture group as they would any other class, with regular assessment and progress meetings. The nurture group curriculum is inclusive, often play-based, and represents activities and learning that help the pupils’ to improve skills such as speaking and listening, dealing with anger, building trusting relationships, and developing empathy. 

The intervention seeks to combine the worlds of home and school for the child. Family and school are two influential systems in a child’s development and the idea that they are connected is particularly important to nurture practitioners for a joined-up approach to addressing difficulties. Nurture practitioners need to communicate openly with parents and carers so that they are fully informed about the nurture group principles and expected outcomes. As time progresses, parents and carers are invited in for sessions and activities with their child, thus building trusting relationships with parents and carers in the same way as they do with the nurture group pupils themselves. 

Nurture groups provide children and young people who are struggling to access education in the classroom a safe environment to develop skills that help them be able to learn. They are just one of the interventions on the graduated approach to nurture that ensures every child has access to the support they need, when they need it. 

If you’re interested in creating a nurture group for your setting, or learning more of the theory behind the approach, please visit our website. Our three-day certified Theory and Practice of Nurture Groups course equips staff with the practical skills needed to set up and run a group, whilst also providing a deeper understanding of the theory behind the intervention, and research on the developing brain and neuroscience.

 

The benefits of gardening for children’s wellbeing

5 school children and a teacher gardening

With National Children’s Gardening Week just around the corner, it offers the perfect opportunity to introduce some gardening activities into the classroom. 

Gardening brings a whole host of learning opportunities around the core curriculum subjects of science, maths and literacy. Children can learn about the world and seasons around them while gaining a greater understanding of the journey their food takes before it reaches their plates. Gardening activities can also have a significant positive impact on your students physical, mental and emotional wellbeing.

How does gardening benefit children’s wellbeing?

Getting outside and into nature gives children the opportunity to learn in a hands-on way, encouraging them to move their bodies and develop their gross and fine motor skills; for example digging, carefully separating tiny seeds and handling delicate seedlings. Gardening encourages the use of all five senses, with sight, sound, smell, touch and taste being regularly exercised, whilst sensory gardens offer a wider range of textures, visual contrasts, and fragrances. Growing vegetables offers the added benefit of the potential to expand young palettes – children are much more likely to be open to tasting foods that they have been involved in growing and nurturing themselves.

Growing plants – caring for the seeds, providing the correct growing conditions with the right balance of light and moisture, nurturing them before results are seen – requires exercising patience, resilience, persistence and commitment. Taking responsibility for helping the plant to grow, being trusted to care for it, and helping it to thrive brings feelings of pride and empowerment. Being in nature has a calming effect, and gardening has been shown to reduce stress levels, improve mood and enhance self esteem. Gardening actually makes you happy! Mycobacterium vaccae, which is found in soil, increases serotonin produced in the brain, which in turn helps to regulate anxiety.

As both a group activity, social skills are developed through team or partner work, and sharing, turn taking and respect will be required. Growing a garden offers the opportunity to advance self esteem and self motivation, and children who practise gardening at school have been shown to display increased empathy, both to the world around them and to their fellow students.

A study by Frontiers, where the behaviour of a group of 11-12 year old students was observed within the classroom and within the school garden, concluded that students showed more socially competent behaviour in school garden lessons than in classroom lessons.

How can I bring gardening into my setting?

Whilst growing a full garden can be a huge but immensely rewarding commitment, there are other ways to bring gardening activities to your setting. Gardening activities can begin inside, and if you are growing vegetables, you’ll enjoy the added benefit of being able to incorporate them into a snack time activity at a later date! Options with faster results can help to keep interest, especially for younger children.

It could be as simple as regrowing vegetables from scraps – celery, lettuce, and spring onions all regrow well and quickly when you place their bulb stem resting on top of a bowl of water.

Sunflowers, broad beans and peas are all grown from seeds and are easily germinated indoors. They can then either be sent home in cups of soil or planted into an area at school to watch them grow. Our emotional egg heads activity sheet offers another simple suggestion to start a simple gardening activity in the classroom.

Both tomatoes and strawberry plants are great fun to grow from a slice of the fruit itself – place a slice with plenty of seeds into some soil, place on a warm sunny windowsill and watch and wait for each seed to grow into a plant that could potentially produce dozens of new fruits! Both grow well in containers, or even hanging baskets, so are a great option when space is limited, and strawberries have the added benefit of coming back each year too.

If you’re able to dedicate time, space and budget for bigger projects, a vegetable patch or sensory garden are great places to start. Community requests for spare tools, outdoor clothing or seeds can prove useful for starting a gardening club or outdoor nurture space. Local garden centres, supermarkets or allotment associations are often keen to support schools in getting started. 

The impact of nurturing activities like gardening can be huge for students’ social, emotional and mental wellbeing. One nurture teacher from the South-East of England recently took their nurture group to complete a two-day gardening project in a local primary school: “Every child I teach could exceed their flightpath, and that still wouldn’t come close to making me as proud as I was at the end of those two days. Each and every one flung themselves into it, working together as a team, taking turns, and supporting each other. I didn’t see a single phone or headphone all day, which with our lot is a genuine measure of success, until the end of the day when they took pictures to show their mums. There aren’t any words to adequately express how that made me feel.”

For more information on how you can bring nurturing activities and interventions into your setting, please visit our website

Further reading: 

 

Supporting children and young people with anxiety

A girl in the play area at school

Anxiety disorders are one of the most common mental health problems, and they are thought to affect up to 19% of children and young people across the UK. They affect people both physically and emotionally, and can make children feel panicked, scared or even ashamed. Anxiety disrupts children and young people’s development, and their ability to build relationships and access education. 

More and more children are arriving at school distracted and distressed – if they arrive at all. Severe absence has soared by 134% compared to pre-pandemic levels, and more than a quarter of all children now regularly miss school (Lost and Not Found report, March 2023).

Today marks the beginning of Mental Health Awareness Week run by the Mental Health Foundation, and this year’s theme is anxiety. The awareness week encourages people to share their own experiences, alongside ideas or strategies they use to manage their anxiety. 

It is crucial that we provide effective support for children and young people that struggle with anxiety so that they can thrive in education and live happy, healthy lives.

Children and young people facing mental health problems such as anxiety often struggle to engage with mainstream education. They may be withdrawn and isolated, or display hugely challenging and disruptive behaviour that significantly affects those around them. Teachers need support to create safe environments that enable pupils to develop the confidence and resilience they need to succeed both academically and in life.

One of the Six Principles of Nurture is to offer a safe base. Whether this be a dedicated nurture room or mainstream classroom, the environment should be a warm and inviting space that helps children and young people to feel calm and ready to learn. It is vital for staff to be reliable and consistent in their approach to children, modelling positive relationships with each other and the children and young people. 

Nurture rooms often have quiet zones or comfy areas that reflect a home. Nurture groups are designed to address children’s social and emotional needs, enabling them to better manage their anxiety. When pupils feel safe in the nurture group and in school, they are able to enjoy school more and this can have a positive impact on their school attendance.

Throughout this week, we’ll be sharing a range of advice and tips to help support children and young people to manage their anxiety. Be sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or LinkedIn to access the resources to enable all children and young people to gain the education they deserve.

A tribute to Dominic Gubb, Senior Director of Learning at Afon Tâf High School

Two women and a man sitting together at a table

Afon Tâf High School in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales, is a fantastic example of how implementing a whole-school approach to nurture can support the social, emotional and mental health needs of pupils. The school is “somewhere pupils want to be”, where “staff go the extra mile with phone calls, home visits, a uniform and prom outfits bank, and even birthday presents because they know their pupils as individuals, and they want the very best for them.” (NNSA report, 2022)

Dominic Gubb, Senior Director of Learning at Afon Tâf, was instrumental in implementing the nurturing approach that led to the school achieving the National Nurturing School Award in October 2022 – a real testament to all his hard work and commitment. The award report highlighted the “unabashed level of care, love and kindness staff at all levels have for every pupil”, and the “sense of pride and belonging pupils have for their school.”

We were very saddened to hear of the sudden loss of Dominic on 15 December 2022. It is clear from the memories shared by the school and the nurtureuk consultants who worked with him, that he was a dedicated and caring educator who made a significant impact on his students and the wider school community. 

A photo of Dominic Gubb

Colleagues described him as a man “who made a lasting impression, he was unique. He was at Afon Tâf for 31 years, he was universally loved, respected and appreciated by our whole school community, and is dearly missed.”

Nurtureuk consultant Julie Hall worked as the assessor on Afon Tâf’s National Nurturing Schools Award application. She commented “Dominic certainly did make an impression on me with his humour, good nature and those fine whiskers. I felt welcomed as he proudly introduced me to the work of the school. On the accreditation day, I knew immediately that the team leading the NNSP had done a great job, and that Dominic very much had a personal commitment to bringing nurturing approaches to the school. He embodied nurture through his love, respect and aspirations for the young people and the community. 

How sad I was then to hear of his too-early death. The other day while supporting a school with their NNSP application, I immediately brought out the Afon Tâf application to use as an example of excellence, and in describing Dominic and Afon Tâf to them, I talked about the genuine love and care shown for their pupils.”

Afon Tâf’s nurturing approach has left a lasting impression on nurtureuk staff: “These efforts, this feeling of community seems to me to be at the very heart of #TeamTaf”.