Nurture – Glasgow Educational Psychology Service

TOWARDS the NURTURING CITY

Glasgow’s Nurture Journey began in 2001 with an initial pilot focusing on targeted support for children and young people finding it difficult to settle and learn in the wider classroom. Currently in Glasgow there are approximately 68 Nurture Groups in Primary settings, and 16Nurture Bases in Secondary. Glasgow continues to monitor the impact of targeted Nurture intervention in Glasgow Primary Schools and Boxall results highlight significant improvements in wellbeing and learning. Positive results from Boxall intervention were presented at the annual Nurture Conference in May 2023.

Glasgow’s investment in small group Nurture intervention remains strong. In order to compliment and further embed Nurture for all Glasgow’s children and young people in 2012 Glasgow developed a policy ‘Towards the Nurturing City’. Glasgow’s framework of Nurture was recognised as model of good practice by Education Scotland in 2019. This policy set out a plan for putting Nurture and Wellbeing at the core of education. In 2023 Nurture remains central to the values of education in Glasgow and is embedded within Glasgow’s vision for all children in meeting their holistic needs. Applying Nurture as A Whole School Approach is initiated in our Early Years Establishment’s and progresses consistently throughout Primary and Secondary education.

A central belief in embedding Nurturing Approaches in all Glasgow establishments is that positive and attuned relationships form the foundation for effective teaching and learning, and the development of wellbeing. Glasgow’s Nurturing Approach is an inclusive approach that can be applied universally, benefiting all children. Glasgow’s Nurturing Approach is guided by 6 Nurture Principles:

Learning is understood developmentally
The environment offers a safe base
Nurture is important for the development of wellbeing
Language is a vital means of communication
All behaviour is communication
Transitions are important in children’s lives

These Nurture Principles provide a framework through which children’s learning and behaviours can be understood and responded to in a trauma informed and developmentally appropriate way, to create environments where relationships are at the centre.

In Glasgow there is a commitment to ongoing evaluation and improvement. Applying Nurture as a Whole School Approach (linked here) provides a framework for establishments to self-evaluate the implementation of Nurture within their context. This document was developed by Education Scotland supported by Glasgow Educational Psychologists and is used widely across the city.

ROLE OF GLASGOW EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGICAL SERVICE (GEPS)

Supporting Glasgow’s vision as a Nurturing City is integral to the role of Educational Psychologists (EPs) in Glasgow. Support from EPs is provided in a tiered way to ensure that Nurture is embedded throughout Glasgow from the bottom up; EPs link with all establishments through SIIM and JST meetings in order to remain responsive to individual establishment needs to support with the self-evaluation and development of Nurture within each educational context. EPs also work across the City with partners, to support the strategic development, evaluation and implementation of Nurture.

In Glasgow we have a Senior EP who works full time as our Nurture Development Officer (NDO) to support the ongoing development of Nurture throughout the city. Training packages to suit different needs are provided by our NDO and are available to all Glasgow practitioners through CPD Manager and Nurture networks. Glasgow’s NDO ensures that these packages are continuously updated to reflect feedback from practitioners and to reflect both the local needs of Glasgow and current research. Further details of recent and future work can be found below and in the additional Nurture sections.

Learn more about the Nurturing City from the children, young people, families and education staff of Glasgow by watching this video (linked here) created by Jenni Kerr (Nurture Development Officer).

Please see below samples of the work carried out by GEPs.

If you would like to know more about Nurture support and the development of nurturing approaches in Glasgow, please speak to your link EP or contact: Alison Crawford, Area Principal Psychologist.

NURTURE SURVEY

An audit of Nurture practice is carried out yearly in Glasgow through a questionnaire sent to every establishment. Our Nurture Surveys demonstrate the positive impact of Nurture on staff, children, young people and families. Please click on the links below to see our most recent surveys:

2022 Nurture Survey

2023 Nurture Survey

BOXALL RESEARCH

GEPS has made a commitment to work alongside our Nurture Development Office to collect and analyse data the impact of Nurture Groups on Glasgow’s children. Information is statistically analysed, and we have found that pre and post data analysis of Boxall assessments show statistically significant results in a positive direction.

Boxall Nurture Research Summary

WORK WITH CHILDREN’S HOUSES

All of Glasgow’s Residential Children’s Houses have accessed Nurture Training provided by GEPS and our Nurture Development Officer. Ongoing work with our Children’s Houses continues to ensure that Nurture is embedded within provisions.

HEALTH VISITOR TRAINING

Between October 23 – December ’23 all Health Visitors, School Nurses and Family Practice Nurses were invited to introductory webinar outlining Glasgow’s nurturing approach within education. The input focused on key messages for each Nurture Principle and discussed how Nurture Principles are translated into practice to ensure that children experience nurture in our Early Years Establishments.

NURTURE PRINCIPLE TRAINING MODULES FOR ALL SECTORS

There is a commitment in Glasgow to ensure that all establishments are employing a whole establishment nurturing approach to support Glasgow’s learners. This sits within the vision of being a Nurturing City. Glasgow’s commitment to whole school nurture began is 2013 when all establishments received whole school Nurture training. GEPS have now created packages of Nurture training from general training to more specific input so that all establishments can access training depending on their needs.

Please click on the hyperlink to access materials on Nurture Principle module information Materials are password protected please contact your link EP if you would like to access these resources.

In 2021 there was a formal launch of nurturing approaches in the EYs. Following this GEPS has worked to create Nurture resources specifically for Early Years settings. The resources are in the form of training modules, and they aim to provide in-depth information and practical strategies for staff teams regarding each Nurture Principle. They are therefore intended for use with establishments who have a basic awareness and understanding of attachment and nurture or those who have completed the Early Years Child Development modules.

Please click on the hyperlink to access materials on Early Years Nurture Materials are password protected please contact your link EP if you would like to access these resources.

NURTURE AWARD FOR ALL SECTORS

Glasgow’s nurture award is open to all establishments who would like to put themselves forward for the award. Establishments will need to demonstrate evidence of embedding nurturing approaches across their whole setting in a sustainable and consistent way.

As part of ongoing self-evaluation activities and improvement planning, establishments will already have a range of evidence and supporting documentation that illustrates their nurture journey. The process towards the award should utilise existing information and allow establishments to promote and celebrate areas of excellent practice. For more information and/or to submit an application, please contact the Nurture Award Team, Glasgow Educational Psychology Service. Email address: nurtureaward@glasgow.gov.uk

The documents below provide guidance on the Nurture Award for Early Years, Primary and Secondary Sectors, along with the quality indicators documents for staff to be using to support with determining readiness:

Nurture Award Guidance for Early Years Establishments

Nurture Award Early Years Quality Indicators

Nurture Award Guidance for Primary & Secondary Establishments

Nurture Award Primary & Secondary Quality Indicators

PROBATIONER TEACHER TRAINING

Every August all Probationer Teachers in Glasgow attend a training session on Nurture. The workshop covers how Nurture has progressed in Glasgow and the current thinking in terms of nurturing practices in Glasgow schools. The workshop takes practitioners through the six Nurture Principles and provides an overview of how these can be used in practice to promote ways of supporting children and young people’s learning.

This is a recording of the workshop delivered on 25 August 2020: Click here to watch the video.

FAMILY ENGAGEMENT: Training Module

To enhance nurturing approaches across the city, we have developed a training module which aims to promote effective engagement between establishments and their families. This is informed by existing literature and recent research carried out by GEPS which explored parents’ and carers’ experiences around home learning and communication with establishments during the Covid-19 pandemic. We also developed a set of ‘best practice’ guidelines for establishments for supporting family engagement.

Access a summary of a survey GEPS carried out to explore family engagement within education.

Access Family engagement best practice guidelines.

STAFF WELLBEING

Supporting the wellbeing of education staff is an essential part of a whole school nurturing approach. Glasgow EPS and our Nurture Development Office (NDO) have developed a range of training materials as part of the ‘Nurturing Staff Wellbeing’ programme. Staff can work through resource on their own or use the resources as a staff team. Training sessions also run throughout the year which provide staff time to reflect on their own wellbeing needs and strategies they can use to support their wellbeing. Please click on the hyperlink to access staff wellbeing materials

SELF EVALUATION

We have also developed a revised version of the parent/carer questionnaire from ‘Applying Nurture as a Whole School Approach’ to support establishments with gathering self-evaluation data from their families.

Establishments can either access and duplicate the questionnaire to share with families via Microsoft Forms or they can download a version of the questionnaire to put into their own format. If using Microsoft Forms, establishments can change the settings to translate the questionnaire into different languages.