What is The Nurture Project Partnership?
The Nurture Project is a community-focused initiative dedicated to raising the academic attainment of disadvantaged children and young people. It fosters a collaborative partnership between state and independent schools, allowing students from both sectors to significantly benefit, particularly in terms of improving mental health and emotional well-being.
Lucy believes in…
“the often untapped potential of fostering good partnering practice between the independent and state sectors to deliver extraordinary outcomes for young people.”
Underpinned by attachment theory, positive psychology and using a trauma informed approach, this project works with schools, parents and the local community to help:
- Reduce Challenging Behaviour
- Reduce Exclusions
- Improve School Attendance
- Raise Academic Attainment
- Improve Mental Health
- Improve Emotional Well-Being
Targeted Staff
Targeted staff at the selected state school undergo three days of training on the Nurture Project, focusing on attachment theory—the psychological foundation of this initiative.
Sixth Form Student Mentors
Sixth form students from the partner independent school, as well as from the partner state school if applicable, receive three brief training sessions before being thoughtfully matched with pupils at the target state school based on the strengths of the sixth formers and the specific needs of the children. These sixth formers serve as mentors and positive role models, implementing specially designed programmes that address the language, social, emotional, and academic needs of the pupils. The programme runs for one academic year, after which it is evaluated before training a new cohort of sixth form mentors to continue the initiative.
The Aims of the Nurture Project Partnership
Raise Academic Attainment:
Improve the academic attainment of disadvantaged pupils.
Promote Emotional Well-Being:
Support the emotional well-being, development, and achievement of children and young people in the community using evidence-based psychology.
Enhance Mentor Resilience:
Foster the emotional well-being and resilience of sixth form mentors through training in positive psychology, resilience development, and the connection between volunteering and emotional health.
Foster School Collaboration:
Strengthen links between state and independent schools to enhance community and social cohesion, as well as to provide additional resources for disadvantaged pupils.
Build Meaningful Partnerships:
Create effective partnerships among various schools in both the state and independent sectors for the benefit of children throughout the national education system (see School Partnerships Alliance for further information).
Accreditations:
