nurtureuk to provide countywide nurture provision across Kent

9 August 2021

nurtureuk have been selected as the preferred provider for the Kent County Council Whole School Approaches to Nurture Service. From September 2021, we will be supporting over 300 mainstream schools in Kent to take part in nurtureuk’s National Nurturing Schools Programme (NNSP).

We are excited to be delivering training and consultancy for schools to develop and implement their own whole-school approaches to nurture, building upon their existing strengths, and leading to school-level accreditation. We will also provide support in implementing nurture group approaches, as well as providing access and training in the use of the Boxall Profile®; nurtureuk’s unique assessment tool to assess emotional wellbeing and identify appropriate strategies at individual, classroom and school-level.

The design of the programme will recognise that each school will have slightly different needs and requirements. Flexibility within the programme delivery model means that we can provide a bespoke service and work alongside staff and pupils within each school to achieve the best results, together creating a culture where young people can thrive and achieve through their education.

The CEO of nurtureuk Arti Sharma said:

“We are absolutely delighted to be working with Kent County Council with this important countywide initiative. We believe social and emotional development is a fundamental part of a young person’s education and with the ongoing pandemic creating such uncertainty, nurture is needed now more than ever. Taking the whole school approach right across Kent means together we can bring the nurture approach to as many young people as possible, and we will build on the successful work we have already started with the Kent and Medway Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) and Virtual School Kent (VSK). Working together with Kent County Council we will support schools to adopt a more inclusive approach for Kent’s pupils, supporting mental health, putting young people at the centre of their education and creating a culture where aspiration, motivation and application are understood to be the keys to success.”

Through embedding the six principles of nurture and using the Boxall Profile® across the whole school, schools can identify children and young people who need additional, more focused support through nurturing interventions, or as part of a nurture group. We look forward to following the nurture journey of these schools in Kent and seeing the positive impact the nurture approach has on both the pupils and the school staff.