Nurture provision in Northern Ireland (2025)
Outcome based research into the current and future impact of Nurture Provision in Northern Ireland
Independent research commissioned by Northern Ireland's Department of Education.
Northern Ireland’s Department of Education (DE) has invested in nurture as an internationally recognised, early intervention approach that addresses social, behavioural, emotional and wellbeing (SBEW) needs that can adversely impact learning.
Nurture provision is a high-value early intervention that improves pupil wellbeing, attendance and attainment, prevents escalating needs, and delivers £2.34–£4.05 in benefits for every £1 invested.
“Without Nurture Provision, many schools would be failing children.”
The research concluded that nurture provision is an effective, high-value early intervention that delivers strong educational and economic returns. Specifically, it found that it delivers:
- Significant, measurable improvements in pupils’ social, emotional and behavioural development
- Improved attendance (chronic absence fell from 49.7% to 36.9% and severe chronic absence fell from 22.3% to 8.5%)
- Improved attainment (an estimated 1.5–2.7 GCSE grade improvement per Nurture Group pupil)
- Positive knock on effects for classrooms, staff and school culture
The report also concludes that nurture provision:
- prevents needs becoming more complex and entrenched
- reduces the need for more intensive and costly support later
- contributes to reduced SEN escalation for a proportion of pupils