Ten Schools To Receive Nurture Unit Investment

Ten schools in Northern Ireland are to benefit from £1.1m investment which will ensure the continued provision of nuture units.

Nurture units enable small groups of children to address barriers to learning which may arise from social, emotional or behavioural difficulties.

This investment is in addition to the funding for 20 new units as part of the Delivering Social Change Signature Project announced by the First Minister and deputy First Ministers in October.

Education Minister John O’Dowd said: "Nurture units provide short-term, focussed interventions to children who are facing barriers to learning. Small groups of children who would benefit from this intensive support can avail of it within the school premises, while continuing to remain part of their class group. Children will generally return to their classes full time within three terms.

"Nurture units can play a key role in tackling under-achievement early in a child’s life by providing targeted support to where it is most needed. This investment, along with the Signature Project, will ensure existing nurture unit provision is supported and will see a total of 30 nurture units operating at local schools in the coming years."

The funding will ensure all 30 units will be funded until at least the 2014-15 school year.

The ten schools to benefit from today’s investment are:

- Ballysally Primary School, Coleraine

- Good Shepherd Primary School, Poleglass

- Holy Family Primary School, Derry

- Kilcooley Primary School, Bangor

- Rathcoole Primary School, Newtownabbey

- St Brigid’s Primary School, Derry

- St Colmcille’s Primary School, Downpatrick

- St Kieran’s Primary School, Poleglass

- St Luke’s Primary School, Belfast

- Tullycarnet Primary School, Dundonald

Funding has been directed to those nurture units based in schools with the greatest level of need.

The Minister continued: "Given the pressures on the education budget, I have targeted these resources to areas of greatest social need. This funding will not only ensure children continue to benefit from the intervention, it will also ensure that the experience gained by these schools can contribute to the development of the Signature Project and can help shape future policy in this area."

(IT)