Nurtureuk joins flagship violence reduction programme in London
What will the Nurturing London project provide for schools?
Schools will be assigned a nurtureuk consultant, who will conduct an initial visit to the school to assess their starting point, as well as supporting the school to conduct a self-assessment against the established criteria for a nurturing school in the National Nurturing Schools programme.
All school teaching and support staff will be trained to use the Boxall Profile Online, nurtureuk’s educational psychologist-designed, teacher-developed assessment tool. The tool enables teachers to develop a precise and accurate understanding of an individual child’s social and emotional competencies and behavioural needs.
The consultant will use their initial evaluation, the school’s self-evaluation, Boxall Profile scores and baseline attendance, attainment and exclusions data, to design a bespoke consultancy package tailored to the school’s specific needs.
Consultancy provided within the programme will aim to introduce the whole-school nurturing approach, taking the team within each school though a programme of in-school training and support, covering principles, the whole-school framework, and specific interventions to address specific needs.
Additional sessions will cover parental engagement session to enable staff and parents to communicate effectively as a team to have a better understanding of the needs of the children and young people.
In the second year of the programme, schools will be supported to set up a Boxall nurture group®, as developed 50 years ago by nurtureuk’s founders. This will include nurtureuk’s accredited Theory and Practice of Nurture Groups training programme, an additional highly practical session on how nurture groups run, along with help from an experienced consultant.
Which London boroughs are taking part in the project?
Kevin Kibble, Chief Executive of nurtureuk, said:
“We are thrilled to partner with the London VRU to support more London schools to implement the whole school nurture approach. Our innovative, child-centric approach to supporting pupils with emotional, behavioural, and social difficulties has its roots in London — having first been developed by the founders of the nurture movement in Hackney in East London fifty years ago.
Today we build on their groundbreaking work and use modern technology and partnerships like this one to reach as many vulnerable children as possible. Our work helps children across the UK to have a safe, positive education, and removes barriers to attainment and quality of life.”
Maureen McKenna, Executive Director of Education for Glasgow said:
“At the initiation of the programmes that led to Glasgow’s Towards the Nurturing City’ work, Education Services in the City Council worked closely with nurtureuk to install training, systems and culture based on the Six Principles of Nurture. The impact of our nurturing approaches across the city has been transformational in the lives of thousands of our children. It’s my strong belief that the skills and behaviours developed through instilling nurturing principles in schools and nurseries across Glasgow has been a major factor in the massive reduction in school exclusions and youth violence on Glasgow’s streets over the past decade.”
Lib Peck, Director of the Violence Reduction Unit, said:
“We know the importance of keeping young people in school and that’s why I am delighted Nurtureuk will be working with the Violence Reduction Unit to help make schools even more inclusive and supportive of young Londoners. Investing in our young people is key to our public-health approach to tackling the complex causes of crime and violence and to making life-changing interventions in a young person’s life.
“This is another example of how the Mayor’s continued investment in the Violence Reduction Unit is working to tackle exclusions and make schools more nurturing so young people can stay in school and reach their true potential. We are investing in our communities, working together, and crucially helping to prevent violence before it starts.”
Project Co-ordinator: Jennifer Perry
Jennifer Perry is the Project Co-ordinator for the Nurturing London Project. Jenny has been working with some of our most vulnerable children, in mainstream and SEMH settings, for 20 years; she has been a class teacher, curriculum leadfor English, pastoral head of House, DSL and Assistant Headteacher at a large secondary school. In recent years, Jenny has been working with Norfolk Childrens’ services on projects around Inclusion, permanent exclusions and high needs block funding as well as coordinating a large ‘Inclusion Network’ of 70 schools.
Contact: londonvru@nurtureuk.org