Renfrewshire’s Nurturing Relationships Approach (RNRA)
Renfrewshire Educational Psychology Service, in partnership with the PT Nurturing Attainment Teachers and local authority managers, have developed an approach entitled Renfrewshire’s Nurturing Relationships Approach (RNRA) in response both to the poverty related attainment gap and to the increasing levels of social and emotional needs being highlighted by schools. Renfrewshire has focused on the development of whole school nurturing approaches to support the wider needs of school communities. This approach is based on Education Scotland’s four day training in nurturing approaches but has since been adapted to more specifically fit the context of Renfrewshire.
The Aims of RNRA are:
To promote an understanding of attachment theory and of the importance of nurturing relationships in helping all children and young people to learn and develop socially and emotionally
To promote an understanding of the key principles of nurturing practice and support schools to embed these at a whole school level
To support practices which will improve wellbeing and promote resilience for children and young people
To introduce an approach to implementation which is evidence-based and therefore has the best chance of delivering a sustainable approach for establishments and children and young people
The EPS provides schools taking RNRA forward with whole school training on attachment and nurturing approaches, including in-depth training on the Nurture Principles below:
Schools are supported to focus on one of these Nurture Principles, implementing and evaluating practice relating to this. The Educational Psychology Service provides on-going coach-consult support to schools as they do so. As schools continue to implement RNRA, training is delivered and further practice is developed around each of the Nurture Principles.
The Educational Psychology Service in Renfrewshire implement Renfrewshire’s Nurturing Relationships approach using a model which includes implementation science and improvement methodology to ensure that the approach is embedded fully in order to meet the needs of children and young people
A complimentary strand of RNRA has been increasing knowledge about, and understanding of how best to support, children and young people who have experienced Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs). The EPS have shown the ‘Resilience: The Biology of Stress and the science of hope’ documentary and hosted a panel discussion following this in many schools and also with other agencies. Explicit links have been made with this and nurturing approaches to demonstrate how nurturing relationships can help mitigate against the impact of ACEs.
