 The next item of business is a member's business debate on motion 3336, in the name of Stuart Macbeth 33, in the name of Stuart MacMillan on Barnardo's Scotland Nurture week. This debate will be concluded without any questions being put. I would ask those members who wish to speak in the debate to press the request-to-speak buttons now. I call on Stuart MacMillan to open the debate. Mr MacMillan, seven minutes are thereabouts, please. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. At the outset, I would like to thank all the members who have signed the motion to have this debate. I would also like to thank the members who have stood back to either take part in the debate or listen to what is going to be said. Obviously, next week is the Barnardo's Scotland Nurture week, with the Parliament being in recess. I am glad that we are actually getting the chance to debate it today. I would like to thank the whips for allowing that to happen. For any parent, a child is a responsibility and a challenge, and it is very easy to feel swamped by both. For those parents whose children require extra attention or who may have their own difficult personal issues to deal with, those day-to-day challenges can certainly multiply hugely. In my Greenock and Inverclyde constituency, Barnardo is a part of the Nurture group network, which is vital to child development and wellbeing. In December of last year, I put forward a motion that was signed by quite a number of members. That was indicating or highlighting the additional funding that Barnardo had managed to receive to help with Inverclyde pupils. This network recognises the importance of Nurture in schools, so school settings and also the training practitioners across Scotland in running Nurture groups. Reaching out to parents and children is Barnardo's Greenock-based Nurture service, which offers advice, information, expertise and, crucially, the support that can ensure the young people who come through the stores and get the best possible start in life and enjoy the best possible future as a result. Nurture groups are a psychologist that designed teacher-led intervention for disengaged and troubled children, which removes behavioural barriers to engagement and attainment in schools through recreating, missing or distorted early attachments. Nurturing approaches are based on the recognition that the factors that lead to many young children failing to reach developmental milestones can be addressed by helping parents and those who are working with children to take relatively simple measures to improve attachment and thus the child's development. It is also a powerhouse of work to improve families' futures, offering a range of group and one-to-one services that are focused on building attachment relationships in the critical early years. Babies are born with 25 per cent of their brains developed, but by the age of three that figure has lept up to 80 per cent. The principles of early support are well established, children need warm, attentive and stimulating parenting at this age to support their social, emotional and physical growth. Its benefits to society, breaking intergenerational cycles of potentially crime, alcohol and drug abuse, and teenage pregnancy are widely recognised. Barnardo provides services that take an attachment-based approach to working with the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children and families across the country. Those include working in nurseries, primary schools and the early stages of secondary schools. Crucially, that also includes working with families before the school gates to ensure that children arrive at the school gates ready to learn. In Inverclyde, where levels of poverty, unemployment and drug and alcohol issues are sadly above the national average, Barnardo works with mothers-to-be as well as parents of newborns, toddlers and children aged 5 to 12, often using respected programmes. There are also services targeted at young parents aged between 14 and 25 who may feel removed from accessing mainstream services. That approach helps parents to build strong and healthy relationships with their children and improves educational attainment and life chances for whole families. As well as offering one-to-one support, Barnardo's Nurture service offers participants the chance to increase their social networks by meeting other parents. For many young parents facing the problems of isolation, that can be vital. There are now more than 300 nurture groups in schools across Scotland. That is a ratio of around one-to-every-eight schools—the Barnardo's work in Inverclyde and across other local authority areas—to help to build the capacity of the early years in teaching the workforce to take a nurturing, attachment-based approach to the work with children and parents. Nurture children are carefully selected at using the boxel profile, an online resource that allows teachers to develop an accurate understanding of children's emotional and behavioural difficulties and to plan effective interventions and support activities. Once in the group, a nurturing philosophy, rooted in attachment theory, is used to ensure that children with social, emotional or behavioural difficulties are provided with the early nurturing experiences that are vital to learning. Make no mistake, Presiding Officer. Nurture groups can turn children's lives around. In the autumn of last year, Queen's University of Belfast published an independent evaluation of the Nurture Signature Schools programme in Northern Ireland. That is a Government-funded pilot where nurture groups were set up in 20 schools and continued in a further 10 and thoroughly evaluated for outcomes and cost effectiveness. The two-year evaluation found that, across the 30 nurture groups, children made consistently large improvements in social, emotional and behavioural development. We also found that there was evidence that greater progress was made by those attending on full-time basis, looked after children and those not eligible for free school meals. Inverclyde, Barnardo's have adapted the original wellbeing outcomes used in getting a right for every child approach to suit their aims. We have sought to ensure that every child, citizen and community, will be safe, healthy, achieving, nurtured, active, respected and responsible. A central part of the Barnardo service is to stress the importance of attentive and stimulating parenting. It does this through initiatives such as the TPP, which is a positive parenting programme. The 5D Thrive, which encourages bonding and offers five cues to help with the emotional development of babies and also mellow parenting, is a programme aimed at vulnerable and hard-to-reach parents. That is an empowering experience for both parents and children. Barnardo's has helped children and their families for over 150 years. It is central to their aims as a belief that every child deserves the best start in life, regardless of their gender, race, disability or behaviour. They understand that being a parent or a carer can be hard work. Barnardo's children's centres provide a fun, safe haven for mum, dads, parents to be carers and children can learn, develop and spend quality time in a welcoming and supportive environment. I have been to see the facility that they have in Greenock and I cannot praise it enough. It is an outstanding facility. I am sure that I speak for everyone in the chamber when I say that we all value the work undertaken by Barnardo's in supporting children and families. Certainly, in my constitution, I am going to remember Clyde as well as across the country. However, I have got two points for the minister. First, can the Scottish Government look favourably at investing in nurture groups across Scotland? Secondly, there is a belief that all schools should use the boxhole profile to better understand and support the social, behavioural and emotional needs of their children. Can the minister be grateful if the minister could give the minister some consideration to be utilised in all of our schools in Scotland? I now call Ruth Maguire to be followed by Alexander Stewart. I thank my colleague Stuart McMillan for bringing the important topic of nurture to the chamber today. I am particularly pleased to have the opportunity to speak today having recently visited Blacklands primary and Co-winning academy in my constituency and having seen for myself the positive and tangible effects of nurture groups on attainment and inclusion. In Blacklands, there was a particularly touching moment when one wee boy alerted a teacher to the fact that one of his friends had done something well, and they had quite a cute well done song. It is a simple thing, but that in a nutshell is what nurture is about. It is about having a space where we can support children to develop healthy and supportive relationships and attachments, making them feel valued by others and confident in themselves, and teaching them how to communicate constructively and positively. In all of this, it is about equipping them with the emotional and mental resilience to deal with the challenges of life, whether the little everyday ones or the much bigger and traumatic ones. Nurturing emotionally healthy and resilient children paves the way for future generations of healthy and resilient adults. Those are really our skills for life. Not only is this of immeasurable benefit to the individual leading to a healthier and happier life, but it is of benefit to all of us, with evidence suggesting that nurture groups can work to reduce crime and health problems in wider society. At the immediate school level, the positive impact that nurture groups have on attainment and thus closing the attainment gap should not be overstated, I should say. With vulnerable or disadvantaged children, the first challenge, as Stuart McMillan said, is often ensuring that children get to school in the first place and are ready and willing to learn when they do. Nurture groups make a huge difference to all those points, resulting in improved attendance and reduced exclusions, improved behaviour and positive attachments to teachers and to the schools. When it comes to attainment itself, the results are no less impressive, with trials showing that children attending nurture groups demonstrate significant gains in academic achievement, including in medicognition skills, language and literacy. There is no doubt that poverty and income inequality play serious roles in educational inequality, but income is not the only factor. More important in a child's life than how much money their family has is stability, love, security and support. Nurture groups are founded on that recognition to ensuring that children get the right support at the right time from the right people and have equal opportunity to engage with learning whatever is going on in their life that is out with their control. In this, the nurture group approach dovetails with the GERFEC approach of the Scottish Government. I am very pleased that Scotland has the best ratio of nurture groups to schools in the UK at 8 to 3, and that the majority of local authority-funded nurture groups in the UK are in Scotland. Importantly, nurture groups allow children to remain part of their mainstream class and work in both primary and secondary school settings. They are eminently sensible and feasible and a good way of tackling some of the most complex issues that are faced by children at a very early stage in a meaningful and sustainable manner. I see a run out of time, so I will finish on that note. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. Can I remind the chamber that I am a Serving Council on Perth and Canals Council and refer members to my register of interests? May I begin, Deputy Presiding Officer, by congratulating Stuart McMillan on securing this debate welcoming Barnardo Scotland's Nurture Week, which will take place next week? The importance of nurture in the development of children is one of the rare things that I think all of us in this chamber can broadly agree with, and that transcends the political divide. It is absolutely essential that children in Scotland grow up in an environment in which they are cared for, supported and crucially feel safe. Those are instances in which we should all manage to support. Many of us here look at the opportunity of going forward and it is vital to the children's development that they have ability to learn. We regularly debate the differences and ways in which we can close the attainment gap and the Scottish education system is moving in one way or the other, but we primarily focus on the curriculum and standard of teaching. Although those are, of course, extremely important, many children are at a significant disadvantage relative to their peers before they even reach the school gate. Many of those children who have come from a disadvantageous background and who have educational attainment is an area that they struggle at. Many of them have to manage outside the school on a day-to-day basis. The difference between living in an environment with drug, alcohol or domestic abuse and stressful situations at home can severely disrupt a child's education. I have seen first-hand as a councillor on Perth and Canos Council the impact that Barnardo Scotland has had on the lives of those youngsters. I congratulate and pay tribute to them for the work that they do. Their efforts are to be rewarded and congratulated. The work that Barnardo Scotland has done to tackle those issues by providing services at work and to the principle of positive attachment within the most vulnerable families helps to ensure that, when the children arrive at school, they feel safe and not just, importantly, they are ready to learn, because that is the problem situation that we are facing in this situation. That the individuals should get to school because of the situation that they find themselves in, because of the background that they are coming from, that they have difficulty in engaging at that level. We have to make sure that that is the case. Barnardo Scotland is picking up that, and, as I said, I very much support the work that it is doing. It is also clear that the poor attachment in early years of a life is not always what manages a child and the results that it can get and the risks that it has of potential mental health problems as they go forward. We are seeing more and more of that. We must look to tackle the root causes of the problem, as well as the methods of treating those youngsters who have complex issues and, as they experience more situations in their life, they become even more complex as they move forward. The nurturing approach that Barnardo Scotland has promoted is the best way for trying to manage that situation, in making them feel secure, in making them feel safe, in giving them the opportunity and working with their families and working with their school to ensure that that happens. The growing number of children who are affected by mental health issues is, of course, very concerning and makes it all the more important to foster stable and nurturing environments at an early age. Strengthening the emotional resilience of children to face anxiety, stress and mental health issues is essentially important as we move forward. In concluding, I am very happy to support the efforts of Barnardo Scotland ahead of the weeks series of events and activities in supporting both the emotional wellbeing and the mental health of those children as they go forward. I would like to begin by thanking Stuart McMillan for bringing this motion to Parliament today and for highlighting the very important work that Barnardo's do in improving childhood development in and reclyde and in other areas across the country. I would also like to thank Barnardo Scotland for their insightful briefing ahead of today's debate, which highlights many of the important issues. They are a great support to all the MSPs in the chamber. We can all agree that the importance of nurture in early childhood development is vital, and nurture week is a great way to showcase the best practice currently being exercised by Barnardo's in some parts of the country. It is also a good time to reflect on how we can use the knowledge of best practice and nurture principles, which all the research tells us absolutely works in terms of achieving positive outcomes for children and consider how we can embed this approach throughout our early years provision and education systems across the country. In terms of closing the attainment gap, we know that early intervention is absolutely crucial. Those children who face the most difficult beginnings in life, navigating family, situations marked by poverty, alcohol and drug abuse, violence in the home and those who may find themselves in care as a result of those issues, are most likely to exhibit signs of challenging behaviour and suffer from inequity and attainment at school. The damaging effects of early unmet attachment needs can therefore have a lifelong impact on a child's prospects. Given the Scottish Government's commitment to closing the attainment gap in education as its top priority in this Parliament, more focus and attention needs to be given to adopting attachment and nurtured-based approaches in early years. I hope therefore to see an acknowledgement of that in the forthcoming mental health strategy, which I hope will reflect the importance of embedding nurture and attachment in the early years of a child's life in order to prevent problems in mental health later down the line, some of which we heard about in the earlier First Minister's question session. Perhaps that is something that the minister could elaborate on in closing. I also hope that the forthcoming mental health strategy will reflect that commitment to working across portfolio areas. It is vital that those in health, education and the third sector are working closely together to tackle the complex issues of wellbeing and mental health and the undeniable impact that that has on other areas of life. With that in mind, I think that it is also worth drawing attention to the recent publication of a report by the Royal College of Pediatrics and Child Health into the state of child health in 2017, which includes several recommendations for action in Scotland. In particular, the report highlights that one in 10 children starting school experience social, emotional or behavioural difficulties. As many as five children in every class have some form of additional support needs, all of which puts pressure on other services. That shows just how important it is that we start to embed the practice of nurture throughout our education system from the very earliest stages. Not only will that ensure that professionals are equipped to support children who need extra support, but that early investment and prevention will have a long-term positive impact on the need for using services in later life. The report highlights that half of mental health problems start before the age of 14 and three quarters before the age of 24 underline the importance of early intervention. I hope that the Government will give consideration to the recommendations in that report in due consideration. In closing, because I realise that time is short in those debates, I think that the key theme of today's debate is about the deserved recognition of the great work in developing attachment and nurture in some parts of the country. There is also the wider issue of how we can further develop that practice in mainstreaming throughout our education system. As Stuart McMillan's motion states, that is the principle that all parties can get behind. I liked the mention in Ruth Maguire's speech about the well-done song. Perhaps we can all come up with some way to celebrate each other when we do, so I will work together in a positive way. By working across the chamber and with third sector groups such as Barnardo's and the Nurture Group Network, we can hopefully see an expansion of that approach. I hope that we are able to see real progress in this area during the lifetime of this Parliament. Thank you very much. Can I just clarify the well-done song? No, we didn't sing it just as well, but there we are, because it really gets parliamentary, but there we are. Can I now call Jeremy Balfour to be followed by—now, if I got this right, I've gone and drifted. No, it's David Torrance. Sorry, I drifted thinking about the song. David Torrance to be followed by Jeremy Balfour. Mr Torrance. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I would like to thank Stuart McMillan for bringing this motion to a chamber this afternoon to welcome Barnardo Scotland's Nurture Week. I'd also like to make a special thank you to Gordon MacDonald for the loan of his glasses, so he can actually see my speech just now. As a father of two, I would like to stress the importance of building a supportive and long lasting relationship with my children. A relationship that has lasted throughout childhood is just beginning to touch our young adult lives. However, as any parent will know, the first few years of a child's life are crucial for our emotional, social, psychological, neurological and physical development. To support children with insecure attachments, all members of the Scottish Parliament should encourage leaders and players in education to promote an urgent approach to help to create strong attachments to the foundations of children's positive emotional development. Ketus Mantra is Barnardo Scotland. Scotland's largest children's charity, we provide more than 130 local services throughout Scotland and work with over 26,500 vulnerable children and young people and their families. They provide help with issues such as attachment and early development, supporting parents in the community and providing guidance and advice on a case-by-case basis. This individualised service is a distinguished feature of Barnardo Scotland. The charity has successfully developed a structure in which staff can acknowledge and respond to children's, young people and families based on their individual circumstances, needs and background, rather than on their age, gender, class or status. I am sure that my fellow MSPs will agree with me that closing the poverty-related attainment gap, especially when working with young and vulnerable children, is certainly a priority. Barnardo Scotland has taken a unique approach to health and wellbeing in order to ensure that children living in the most disadvantaged areas are receiving as much attention to literacy, numeracy and health and wellbeing. Support services in Fife are an excellent example of how Barnardo Scotland individualises their support on a case-by-case basis, especially working with our support groups such as the Fife Advocacy Forum, Fife Council, NHS Fife and Barnardo's Child and Family Support Service, which has been providing services to children and families in need for over a decade. The Fife-based service currently has eight strands of service, including children's rights, intensive family support, assessment of parent capacity, family careers, family health, a nurture hub and substance abuse services. I stress that these services are often not a one-off appointment and families are encouraged to follow up with staff for up to a year after their initial meeting. This ensures that services that Barnardo Scotland can offer make a long-lasting impact on communities. I have the confidence that Barnardo Scotland's nurture week will bring awareness not only to the children and young people that are suffering but critically to parents who often take an extremely emotional and physical role in dealing with the day-to-day struggles of their children in need. Barnardo's nurture service not only offers a space for children to express themselves but also a space for parents of vulnerable children to meet and socialise, essentially creating ad-hoc support networks. This double effect is what Barnardo Scotland is essentially aiming for, creating and fostering support and extending that support in everyday life, not just under the care of compassionate staff and volunteers. Crucially, getting it right for every child brings all these initiatives together. Nurture in England Clyde has set a great example for the rest of the country by putting children at the centre of a local community. Nurture in England Clyde has adapted getting it right for every child to suit their needs. I call on every constituency to do the same by working and consulting with her council services and leaders of community development planning, as well as a range of stakeholders who can contribute to well-being outcomes. In conclusion, I once again like to thank Stuart McMillan for securing this important debate and commend Barnardo Scotland's young people and families. I call Jeremy Balford to be followed by Fulton MacGregor, the last speaker in the open debate. I thank Stuart McMillan for bringing the debate and the opportunity to talk about the important subject. I am sure that, as has already been said, we all agree that nurturing children within our society and our country is so important. It can create positive attachments, help the child mature, learn and thrive. For parents, it is often hard to nurture children, particularly those who are younger. I speak from experience as a father of twins who has just got to nearly six years old. Parents, wherever they come from, often need help. It is too easy for society and for even sometimes us as politicians to blame parents rather than support parents. I think that Barnardo's and others can bring such valuable experience to help. As someone who is still very new to this Parliament and still learning lots, what has surprised me perhaps the most since coming to this place is the importance that a child learns from zero to three, even before they start nursery or school. Often, as we have heard from other speakers, a child will nurture, will grow in those formative years, and what happens between zero and three has a knock-on effect into not only primary school but secondary and later into society. We need to support vulnerable families, we need to support children who have extra needs in regard to being able to nurture and to grow so that they will then grow not only in the younger years but in years to come. I welcome the work of Barnardo's and other organisations in the help that they can give many families within our community. Because if we get this right and we get this right for every child, we will see less children coming forward with mental health issues. We will see the attainment gap lesson. We will see families stronger within our society and whichever political party we are, that is what we all want to see in Scotland. I welcome this debate and I wish Barnardo's well next week. I hope that his campaign goes beyond the four wars and goes into the whole of our society and local authorities and families appreciate and realise a bit more what they can offer as we think to nurture our children. Fulton MacGregor I am sorry to disappoint everybody, I have still got one more to go. I thank the Stuart McMillan for bringing this debate to the chamber. Just like other speakers, I am delighted to be able to participate in this member's debate regarding Barnardo's Scotland Nurture campaign and, as Jeremy Balfour said before me there, I think that Barnardo's is a fantastic organisation and I wish them well with the upcoming campaign. Also, as others have said, most points have been covered in a very consensual debate and I stress that I recognise the importance of nurturing interventions for children and young people. It is particularly relevant as we have heard two children who may be facing inequity in terms of attainment and those who are at the greatest face the greatest challenges. The constituency that I represent poverty is fairly prevalent and this can understandably have an impact on childhood experiences and the direction that they may be taking. I am thinking, even specifically to the review of the looked after and accommodated young people that the Scottish Government has announced and I think that this all ties in together quite nicely. Within my own area, I mentioned my constituency there, and within my own area there is Nurture groups at St Monica's and inclusion support across the constituency and also great work done by North Lancer Council in terms of community learning and development. I know that a lot of parents in school speak highly of the support that they receive through those links. Last night, I hosted an event by Sam H in the Garden Lobby. I felt that it went really well and it was in relation to mental health and working opportunities, but it links. I feel quite nicely into today's debate because when I was speaking to some of the people there at the event last night, there was a lot of talk about the mental health issues faced by young people at the present time and the poor attachments and the difficulties that can have for young people starting school if they have not developed the proper attachments and had the proper nurturing. I was really pleased to hear Monica Lennon's question earlier to the First Minister. I actually had a supplementary there, but Monica covered the points that I wanted to come in on and allowed the First Minister to answer and give the direction that she and the Government are going and the ambitions that they have for young people with mental health. The Nurture group network annual Scottish conference is actually I'm pleased to announce being held in my constituency at the Cotebridge campus of New College Lancer. It's happened at the end of the month and the theme is teaching and learning for children with social, emotional and mental health issues. It's fair to say that this is a great opportunity for promoting the work of Nurture groups and demonstrates why such groups have had such a claim from teachers, parents, pupils, education professionals and others. I'll just take the opportunity again. As I said, a lot of the points have been covered. It's an area where everybody in the Parliament can put support behind. I thank Stuart McMillan again for bringing it to the chamber. Thank you very much, Mr Gaggin. Now, I call Aileen Campbell to wind up the Government minister. Seven minutes are there about. Thank you, Presiding Officer. Please forgive me at the premature nature of me rising to speak, but I think that you had to put your teacher voice back on there to tell me to sit down there. I'd also like to thank Stuart McMillan for raising this motion and for highlighting the fantastic work of Barnardo Scotland, which is being celebrated through their nature week. I've appreciated all contributions, highlighting all the local work that's happening right across everybody's constituencies or indeed council areas. Good attachment, positive relationships, Nurture support, stability, love are all essential ingredients for a good and happy childhood that sets the strong foundations for later life. Ruth Maguire articulated the wider societal benefits that we all feel, whether that's injustice, the economy or the health service, when we do have that focus on the early years, showing why it is everyone's business to get this right. That's why today I want to touch upon activities that this Government is doing in those important early years and throughout the child's life journey with a focus on Nurture. I do want to maybe distress that as well because while we do have that focus on early years, we should never misunderstand the fact that early intervention and early years are different, that once a child is beyond those early years, we shouldn't think that we should never give up on that child and make sure that we can act early when we can and provide support to a child and young person whenever they need that help. In terms of the early years, that starts in maternity services. Stuart McMillan recognised the brain development that has occurred before a child is even born. That is a point that is recognised and articulated very strongly by Suzanne Zidike and what she describes as the connected baby. I would certainly recommend to any member who is new to this Parliament to certainly look at the work of Suzanne Zidike and how she articulates the importance of attachment for all of our children. In January, we published the best start, our five-year forward plan for maternity and new care in Scotland. That includes a number of recommendations that are focused on providing family-centred, safe and compassionate care that recognises the importance of attachment and bonding. Post-birth skin-to-skin care is already very well established throughout Scotland and should continue to be promoted. Plus, women and babies should be kept together whenever possible to assist with bonding and attachment and to help to support breastfeeding, which is recognised as a positive proactive mechanism for supporting that important attachment. We are also, as a Government, committed to supporting parents, giving a fair and equal start for every child. It was good to hear some of our MSPs talking about the challenges that they have as a parent as well. We will continue to roll out the roll-out of the family nurse partnership programme to reach all eligible teenage mothers by the end of 2018. We will also ensure that every newborn in Scotland receives a baby box, which includes essential items for a child's first weeks. That will include materials that promote attachment to help parents to prepare for the arrival of their wee one. Our national parenting strategy also highlights how we will help parents to lay strong foundations for the living, nurturing relationships that we all know are integral to children's wellbeing. Our well-established play talk read campaign encourages parents and carers to incorporate playing, talking and reading into their daily routines. It helps to drive home the importance of positive interactions with children from day one. However, that does not just stop with parents. All staff working with children and young people play a crucial role in helping them to develop skills, positive mental health and to foster resilience. Our national practice guidance for an ambitious expansion of early learning and child care, building the ambition, describes good work practice in creating caring and nurturing settings that allow wellbeing to flourish. The guidance also sets out the importance of attachment, where the parent-child relationship is viewed as one of the most important factors in a child's development. Those nurturing approaches are especially vital for our looked-after children. That has been a point that was raised by Fulton MacGregor, Monica Lennon and others throughout their contributions. Our looked-after children currently demonstrate the poorest outcomes by comparison with their peers. Any of us in the chamber who are parents would never accept poor outcomes for our own children, nor should we for those who have a collective corporate parenting responsibility. The Government expects all corporate parents to work with young people and to consider fully how they can fulfil their statutory obligations differently and more effectively. Our commitment to getting it right for every child is at the very heart of that and all that we do for our children. It is also at the very heart of our curriculum. To support the development and practice of nurturing approaches in our schools, Education Scotland has also developed two national professional learning resources. The first is nurturing approaches in the primary school, which explores attachment and nurture in the early years. The second is a whole-school nurturing approach that promotes school connectedness, resilience and the development of social and emotional competencies, all of which are key aspects of promoting mental wellbeing. Further discussions are also taking place to adapt that for use in early-year settings. I also understand for Stuart McMillan that Education Scotland promotes the boxel profile as a useful tool to be used as part of a child's plan. The Scottish attainment challenge has also prioritised improvements in health and wellbeing. We will allocate £750 million during the course of this parliamentary session through the attainment Scotland fund to tackle the poverty-related attainment gap, targeting resources at the children, schools and communities that are most in need. A significant proportion of the Scottish attainment challenge funding has focused on taking forward nurturing approaches and nurture groups. Again, I hope that that provides some reassurance to Stuart McMillan on the two points that he raised. We recognise the importance of nurturing approaches and addressing and overcoming the barriers that some children experience in school. Barnardoes, though, are at the very forefront of this work. They are involved with more families through the attainment challenge than through any other services in Inverclyde. That close partnership working has been effective in attracting and engaging more families who need support in comparison to other services within the wider nurture service provision. In Inverclyde, 60 families are working with family support workers provided by Barnardoes and funded through the Scottish attainment challenge. Since March of last year, 90 staff have been trained in five to thrive by Barnardoes. The programme in partnership with Inverclyde Council is an example that we want to encourage other schools and local authorities to follow. We greatly value Barnardoes' contribution, and that is why we support them with core funding as part of the children, young people and families early intervention fund. I thank Stuart McMillan MSP for raising the motion and highlighting the important work of Barnardoes in embedding nurture approaches to services. Children only get one shot at childhood, and it is incumbent on us all to work together across professions, disciplines, portfolios and parties to strive to do our very best to help them get it right.