The Classroom Offers a Safe Base: Expanding Our Understanding of a Key Principle of Nurture Groups from Attachment Theory to Place-Based Pedagogy, towards Developing a Contemporary Model of Nurture-in-Nature Practice in Schools

From its origins within the deprived schools of inner London in the late 1960s, nurture group practice has evolved organically. Based on instinctive, clinically observed and evidence-based principles, nurture groups continue to offer a viable educational response in providing for the fundamental attachment needs of vulnerable children in schools. The theoretical, philosophical and pedagogical concepts that have shaped nurture practice since its establishment are discussed -- particularly the theory of the safe base introduced by child psychologists, Bowlby and Ainsworth. This paper asserts that through the expansion and exploration of our understanding of one of the key principles of nurture practice, and by embracing elements of a place-based pedagogy approach, nurture practice can evolve further to meet the needs of vulnerable pupils today and in the future. Furthermore, this paper suggests that nurture groups are well placed to offer the opportunities of reconnection to, and the wider exploration of, the child's natural setting, thereby increasing attachment to place, connectedness to nature and the promotion of pro-environmental behaviour. Insights into a current nurture-in-nature model of evolved practice are presented for the purpose of initiating discussion and further research into this subject.