Forest Town primary praised in Parliament

A primary school in Forest Town has been praised in Parliament for its excellent work.
Forest Town Primary recieved a quality mark award from Nurture Group Network, pictured helping to plant a tree to mark the occasion is MP Ben Bradley with Nurture Group's Elisa Mascellani, assistant headteacher Laura Leedham, deputy headteacher, Nicola Lomas, Dinah Bishop and Jackie WhitakerForest Town Primary recieved a quality mark award from Nurture Group Network, pictured helping to plant a tree to mark the occasion is MP Ben Bradley with Nurture Group's Elisa Mascellani, assistant headteacher Laura Leedham, deputy headteacher, Nicola Lomas, Dinah Bishop and Jackie Whitaker
Forest Town Primary recieved a quality mark award from Nurture Group Network, pictured helping to plant a tree to mark the occasion is MP Ben Bradley with Nurture Group's Elisa Mascellani, assistant headteacher Laura Leedham, deputy headteacher, Nicola Lomas, Dinah Bishop and Jackie Whitaker

Ben Bradley MP for Mansfield held a debate in Westminster Hall on Nurture UK a charity which aims to remove barriers to learning by promoting nurture in education.

During the debate, Mr Bradley spoke about the importance of nurture care in the early years of schooling, especially in deprived areas and for troubled families.

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He specifically paid tribute to the "great work" undertaken at Forest Town Primary School, on Clipstone Road West, to support vulnerable children with complex needs.

Forest Town Primary School is involved with Nurture UK.

Nurture groups offer a short-term, inclusive and focused intervention. The groups are classes of between 6 and 12 children, supported by school staff team and parents.

Each group is run by two members of staff. They assess learning, communication and emotional needs and help remove barriers to learning. Significantly, this approach allows children attend nurture groups but remain an active part of their main class group, keeping them in school and connected to their friends.

Mr Bradley spoke about the relatively high level of family breakdown in Mansfield and the impact on educational attainment. In Mansfield 27percent of children start primary school without the core abilities they need to succeed including speech and language skills.

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My Bradley called on the Government to do more to support nurture provision in primary schools, particularly in deprived areas, in order to help more children to stay in mainstream education, and to help cut the number of exclusions.

Nick Gibb MP, Minister of State for School Standards responded to the debate.

He said that one of the government’s top priorities is to create a system which helps the most disadvantaged children to reach their full potential.

He spoke about the importance of supporting early communication and language skills and mentioned the government’s social mobility programme including support for early years funding in disadvantaged areas.

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Mr Bradley said: “It was good to have the opportunity to hold a debate in Parliament about the difficulties that are often faced by children in their early years.

"I pushed the government to offer the best possible support for vulnerable children and those from deprived backgrounds.

"Across Mansfield and Warsop I have seen the huge gap in development that exists between different children up to the age of five, and how tough it can be for some of them to settle in to school.

"If they don’t get support at the beginning, they often have problems throughout their education and into their teenage years."