THE SECOND

INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH CONFERENCE ON NURTURE IN EDUCATIONExploring and promoting resilience in children and young people

Thursday 19 October 2017

The theme for our second research conference is promoting and nurturing resilience in children and young people. Over the years, as nurture groups have expanded and spread globally, NGN’s goal has always been to ensure that every disadvantaged or disengaged child has access to a nurturing intervention to equip them with the skills and resilience they need to make the most of learning and school.

Since its inception NGN has been committed to supporting evidence-based research to assess, evaluate and improve the nurturing approach and is proud to count more than 60 academic studies focusing on nurture and nurturing interventions.

In recent years, two main research projects have gathered strong evidence to support the benefits and impact of nurture. Last year the Centre for Evidence and Social Innovation at Queen’s University Belfast released an independent report, measuring the impact and cost-effectiveness of nurture groups in Northern Ireland. The study examined 30 nurture groups over a two year period. Additionally, in 2015, NGN commissioned researchers at Lancaster University to carry out case study research on seven schools in the North West of England.

Five schools had traditional nurture groups and two schools were practicing nurture principles throughout the whole school. These two research projects have provided us with valuable evidence on the effectiveness of nurture principles. We will be joined by the researchers of both of these studies to discuss their recommendations and address delegates about evidence-based, good quality practice.

NGN’s second international research conference provides a stimulating forum for practitioners, policy makers and academics to come together and discuss ongoing best practice and research of nurture groups from a breadth of different disciplinary perspectives. We will explore and discuss nurture; focusing on the context, mechanisms and outcomes that nurturing interventions have on pupils. We will be joined by highly experienced experts and practitioners, coming together to advocate for nurturing principles and demonstrating the impact they can have on the future of children and young people. The conference is highly participative, promoting the dissemination and exchange of ideas through keynote speeches and Q&A’s. Delegates will also experience elements of nurture, with a mindfulness experience and poster sessions.

AIMS OF THE CONFERENCE

To present and discuss the most up-to-date research on how nurture principles and best practice improve the socio-emotional functioning and academic achievement of the most disadvantaged children and young people.

To nurture a continuing dialogue between academics and practitioners about the theory and practice of nurture in education, and make recommendations to policy makers.

To inspire practitioners and professionals to consider the resilience of children and young people as a priority and a necessity to break down barriers to learning.

CONFERENCE CHAIR

Dr Woody Caan

Dr Woody Caan is the Editor of the Journal of Public Mental Health and Professorial Fellow at the Royal Society for Public Health. He is a member of the executive group of the Public Mental Health Network and is an advisor to the All Party Parliamentary Group on suicide prevention. Previously he was the first Professor of Public Health at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge. During that time he was national chair of the Social Care Research Group and the School Health Research Group, and was an academic member of Department of Health steering groups for ‘No Health Without Mental Health’ and ‘Getting it right for children, young people and families’. His current work is on the development of wellbeing and resilience in childhood.

WelcomeThe Nurture Group Network (NGN) would like to extend a warm welcome to everyone with an interest in children’s mental health and wellbeing, special educational needs and nurture research to NGN’s second international research conference on nurture in education.

SHIRLEY DEXShirley Dex is an interdisciplinary economist and sociologist and currently Emeritus Professor at the Institute of Education based in the Centre for Longitudinal Studies and the Childhood Wellbeing Research Centre (CWRC). She held the post of Professor of Longitudinal Social Research at the Institute of Education until 2010 and was Director of a teaching programme on research methods for policy analysis and evaluation, devised originally for UK government social researchers. Shirley will be talking about the ‘big picture’, exploring the current political and economic context as it affects the wellbeing of children and young people.

DAME SUE BAILEYProfessor Dame Sue Bailey OBE DBE FRCPsych is based in the North West of England where she is Consultant Child and Adolescent Forensic Psychiatrist and Professor of Child and Adolescent Mental Health. Her clinical work and research centres on meeting complex needs of young people and their families, improving pathways of care and developing new interventions working in partnership with users and carers, and lobbying for rights of and better services for vulnerable young people. Sue will be addressing delegates, giving insight into the national context for mental health and wellbeing for children and young people.

FRANCES SWINBURNEFrances Swinburne is the Senior Pupil Support Manager at South Lanarkshire council in Scotland. In 1997, Frances set up a provision in South Lanarkshire which supported pupils experiencing SEBN, allowing them to come to the base for some sessions, then returning to school, supported by outreach staff. After this, Frances set up and managed the Behaviour Support Service for the council, managing two bases, an outreach team, CUSTTAD and Nurture across the authority. In 2004, Frances became Senior Manager Pupil Support for Cambuslang & Rutherglen Area, assisting schools to plan and support pupils with Additional Support Needs. Frances also retains strategic remit for developing Nurture across the authority. Frances will be speaking to delegates about strategic approaches to embedding nurture across a local authority.

Nurture in context

DR JO WARINJo is a senior lecturer in the Department of Educational Research at Lancaster University and Co-Director of the Centre for Social Justice and Wellbeing. Jo’s research interests lie in two specific related areas: gender in education, with particular emphasis on men, masculinities and teaching/caring roles in early childhood; emotional aspects of children’s lives in educational contexts with a particular emphasis on their ongoing construction of identity. Jo will be opening the mechanisms section of the conference, addressing delegates about practitioner examples of work on the ground and the mechanisms that create an effective nurture group or nurturing school, as identified by the Lancaster study.

DR REBECCA HIBBINRebecca is a researcher in the Department of Educational Research at Lancaster University. Her research interests include literacy, speaking and listening skills, psychosocial wellbeing and development, as well as arts education, specifically in relation to collaborative learning

and oral storytelling. Together with Jo Warin, Rebecca was commissioned by NGN in 2015 to examine nurture groups in seven school settings across the North West of England. Rebecca will be speaking to delegates about behaviour management systems, based on relationships and restorative justice.

SARAH BARLOW & CHARLOTTE TURNERSarah Barlow Sarah is the Deputy Head at Adelaide School in Crewe where she has worked for eight years. Initially she came from a primary background and established ‘nurture’ at Adelaide School.

Charlotte Turner Charlotte comes from a background of social care. She has also been instrumental in developing the nurture group at Adelaide in the last six years.

Adelaide School is an outstanding special school in Crewe for pupils with social, emotional and mental health issues from year five to sixth form. The school has become an academy in

the last few years and now sponsors two other SEMH special schools. Together, Charlotte and Sarah will talk about the impact adults have on children and young people through modelling positive relationships.

KATH BEVANKath Bevan is the Head Teacher at Pillgwenlly Primary School in Newport; a very large multi-faith primary school with over 650 pupils situated in the dock area of Newport City, South Wales. There are thirty seven languages spoken in the school and 30% of the school population are new to the English language. Pillgwenlly introduced nurture groups into its setting in 2004 and currently runs three different nurture groups. The school has recently been recognised as a ‘Learning Network School’ specialising in wellbeing and equality. Kath will be speaking to delegates about family engagement and developing strategies to involve parents and the community in safeguarding and supporting children.

WHY IS NURTURE NEEDED?In this opening section of the conference, three leading professionals will explore the current climate for the wellbeing of children and young people, discussing current issues from a global, national and local context.

The mechanisms of nurtureHOW DOES NURTURE WORK?In the middle section of the conference, researchers and teachers will be exploring examples of best practice at a grassroots level. This includes reference to the NGN commissioned Lancaster University study: Nurture Groups in Practice: Children; Classes; Schools (2015).

DR SEANEEN SLOANSeaneen is a Lecturer at the School of Education at University College Dublin. Seaneen’s research interests centre around child development, social and emotional wellbeing and mental health, especially within the context of schooling and educational attainment. Seaneen was the principal investigator for the independent study: ‘The impact and effectiveness of nurture provision in primary schools in Northern Ireland’, published last year by the Centre for Evidence and Social Innovation at Queen’s University Belfast. In this keynote, Seaneen will discuss the findings of this report and what this evidence means for the future of nurture.

FIONA BOYD & ANN HEFFERNANFiona Boyd Fiona graduated from St Mary’s Training College in 1988 and has worked in Holy Trinity Primary School from 1988 to the present day. She trained as a teacher of the deaf and taught in a special unit for 19 years. Following completion of her PQHNI she became Vice Principal in 2007 and Principal in 2013. Her heart lies with children with special needs and vulnerable children and the opening of the nurture unit has helped the school progress from excellent to outstanding.

Anne Heffernan Anne trained as a primary school teacher at St Mary’s University College in Belfast and obtained a B.ed (Hons) in English. She also obtained a Master’s degree in Anglo-Irish Literature at Coleraine University. Anne has been teaching in Holy Trinity, Belfast for the past 16 years. She has taught for many years in primary two and in 2013, Anne began her career as a nurture teacher.

In 2015, Holy Trinity Primary School in Belfast received the Marjorie Boxall Quality Mark Award for their outstanding nurture provision. Fiona and Anne will be talking to delegates about nurture in practice.

The outcomes of nurture

WARREN STREET

EUSTON

RUSSELL SQUARE

EUSTON SQUARE

EUSTON ROAD A

501

TAVISTOCK SQUARE

WOBURN HOUSE

TAVISTOCK PLACE

WOBURN PLACE B502

GOWER STREET

TOTTENHAM COURT RD

UPPER WOBURN PL

HAMPSTEAD RO

AD

WHAT CAN NURTURE ACHIEVE?

In the third and final section, we will explore the outcomes from an independent report published by the Centre for Evidence and Social Innovation at Queen’s University Belfast. The study measured the impact and cost-effectiveness of nurture groups in Northern Ireland by following the journey of 30 nurture groups and evaluating pupils’ progress over a two year period. We will be joined by lead researcher, Dr Seaneen Sloan and two nurture practitioners from Northern Ireland.

VENUEWoburn House, Tavistock Square, Bloomsbury, London WC1H 9HQ

LOCATIONWoburn House is located in Central London in Tavistock Square, south of the Euston Road. The transport links are excellent as it is surrounded by stations:

Five minutes walk from Euston Station

Eight minutes walk from St Pancras International and Eurostar terminals

10 minutes walk from Kings Cross Station

Five minutes walk from Russell Square and Euston Square Underground

A number of buses stop on Tavistock square including the 59, 68,168 and 91

For more information on Bus Routes, please visit the TFL website.

/nurturegroups @nurturegroupswww.nurturegroups.org

A charity registered in England and Wales 1115972 and in Scotland SC042703

The Nurture Group Network exists to promote the development of nurture groups and to ensure the continuing quality of their delivery through accredited training programmes, research on effective practice, relevant publications and information exchange. Its aim is to make the nurture group approach available to all pupils who need it and also to ensure that the connections between learning and early development are understood throughout education.

9.30am Registration and refreshments

10.00am Welcome

NURTURE IN CONTEXT10.20am Shirley Dex

10.40am Dame Sue Bailey

11.00am Frances Swinburne

11.00am Audience Feedback

11.10am Tea break

Conference timetable

Booking form

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Woburn House, Tavistock Square, Bloomsbury, London WC1H 9HQ

Price: £195+VAT

or: £95+VAT for students

10% DISCOUNT FOR MEMBERS

INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH CONFERENCE ON NURTURE IN EDUCATIONThursday 19 October 2017

THE SECOND

Please return this form with payment or visit our website to pay with a credit or debit card.

All booking forms should be sent to Gillian Fewins, Nurture Group Network, 18A Victoria Park Square, Bethnal Green, London E2 9PB T: 020 3475 8980 E: conferences@nurturegroups.org

Closing date: Friday 6 October 2017

THE MECHANISMS OF NURTURE11.40am Dr Jo Warin

12.00pm Dr Rebecca Hibbin

12.20pm Sarah Barlow & Charlotte Turner

12.40pm Kath Bevan

12.40pm Lunch

1.30pm Mindfulness experience

THE OUTCOMES OF NURTURE2.05pm Dr Seaneen Sloan

2.20pm Fiona Boyd & Ann Heffernan

2.35pm Video presentation

2.45pm Panel discussion

3.15pm Conclusion

3.30pm Conference finishes

www.nurturegroups.org

Every summer, NGN collates and publishes a reflective research journal; The International Journal of Nurture in Education. The third issue is devoted to those who are backing up practice with their own school and classroom based research, often as part of a further research degree. Each paper is subject to a rigorous academic peer review.

The International Journal of Nurture in Education is read by academics and researchers, educational psychologists, nurture group and special needs practitioners, school leaders, students and consultants, all of whom have an interest in nurture in education. The third edition is available for free at www.nuturegroups.org/evidence