Funbi is nurtureuk’s Insight and Research Manager. He has a rich background in Customer Relationship Management (CRM) administration, and careers education policy and research.

Outside of work, he is an avid Arsenal fan who never misses a match. He is a proud father of three and a dedicated member of his gym community, where he tries to balance both physical and mental strength.

What does nurture mean to you?

Nurture means balancing the playing field for young people facing challenging circumstances. There are young people in crisis situations and whilst it is commendable to support them, preventing young people from reaching crisis stage through a nurture approach would really help the most disadvantaged.

What do you enjoy about working at nurtureuk?

I enjoy working with an incredibly passionate team. The staff were welcoming and supportive from day one. It’s really satisfying to be working on solutions to some of the biggest challenges we face in education right now.

Jacqui joined nurtureuk as The Inclusive and Nurturing Schools Programme Manager in August 2024. Jacqui is a dedicated, intuitive and efficient Programme Manager with almost thirty years of experience in the charity sector. She has extensive relationship management experience and is passionate about building mutually beneficial partnerships.

Jacqui is particularly passionate about the importance of identifying and supporting SEMH needs for those young people who do not ‘stand out’ as having needs but for whom the school environment can be a real challenge. She is excited to play even a small part in making school a happy and safe place for children and young people, where they can foster relationships with adults they can trust and rely on. .  

Jacqui lives on the edge of Dartmoor with her family. When not running teenagers around she likes to walk with her dog Gordon, cook and listen to podcasts.  

What does nurture mean to you?

Nurture to me is fundamentally about kindness. It’s about caring about all the people in the school enough to be thoughtful about, and responsive to, the way in which they experience the world. Nurture is about creating an environment where all children and young people feel safe, supported, respected and listened to by those around them. 

What do you enjoy about working at nurtureuk?

nurtureuk is a very genuine organisation. There is an ethos of openness, transparency, honesty and trust.  Every single person really cares about their work and is committed to helping schools create nurturing environments for their pupils. 

Melissa joined nurtureuk as Head of Operations in July 2024. She brings a breadth of experience in operations, digital systems, people and culture, and finance from her previous roles in the not-for-profit, education and commercial sectors.

Her passion for nurture hails from her own lack during childhood and wanting to ensure that no child grows up without the ability to feel safe, secure and happy within themselves and their relationships.

In her leisure time, Melissa loves to be active and can usually be found outdoors running, hiking or playing netball. Her other love is musical theatre, both performing on stage herself and watching theatre productions.

What does nurture mean to you?

For me, nurture is about understanding and responding to someone’s needs in a way that makes them feel heard, cared for and safe. Feeling nurtured can give us the courage and freedom to experiment, play, make mistakes, learn and be ourselves, without fear or judgement.

What do you enjoy about working at nurtureuk?

I love how healthy and positive the workplace culture is. Everyone understands the vision, supports the mission, and has both the freedom and the framework to contribute creatively towards our goals. It is clear that we all hold children and young people at the heart of everything we do, and every team member is committed to making nurture the norm for our future generations.

Benjamin is an experienced digital product manager based in south west England.

With a background in creative technology, Benjamin is certified in user-centered design, research, development and product management, and enjoys continual learning in the field.

In his spare time he enjoys being active outdoors and visiting new places.

What does nurture mean to you? 

To me, nurture means a commitment to an environment that considers the complete social and emotional wellbeing of every person, seeking a deeper understanding of each unique individual to remove barriers to success.

What do you enjoy about working at nurtureuk?

Everyone lives our values and cares deeply about the wellbeing of one another, all children and young people, and the people that support them. We have a lot of fun whilst working hard to increase our impact.

Based in Kent, Luke oversees both the Solihull Nurturing Schools Programme and Surrey Nurturing Schools Programme. As Programme Manager, he supports over 150 schools to embed nurturing interventions.

Before joining nurtureuk, Luke worked a variety of roles in research, charity and educational settings. Most recently, he has supported organisations to build partnerships and enhance their delivery of large programmes, working with non-profits in both the democratic engagement and financial education sectors. Luke is also a qualified Secondary English teacher, having worked as both a teacher and subject leader. His commitment to nurture emerges from his time as a teacher, where he saw the impact of the classroom offering a safe base and the importance of all young people developing the social and emotional skills they need succeed.

Luke has a first degree in Cultural Studies, a Masters in Methods of Social Research, and has a background in social research and education policy.

What does nurture mean to you?

It means recognising context and valuing all that children bring to the classroom. For me, nurture involves always leading with compassion and empathy, and ensuring that children and young people feel valued and thought about as individuals in a meaningful way.

What do you enjoy about working at nurtureuk?

I really enjoy the way nurturing principles guide everything we do at nurtureuk. We are an inclusive and warm team. I am proud to work alongside like-minded colleagues who are so passionately committed to sharing knowledge of nurture.

Louisa joined nurtureuk as Head of Income and Partnerships in April 2024. Previously she has worked in various charity sector and educational settings, often with vulnerable adults and young people and most recently as Director of a mental health charity in Bristol. Supporting SEMH needs has been a strand that has run throughout Louisa’s career and she’s very excited to be working in the nurtureuk team and joining the vision to ensure no child is limited by lack of nurture in education.

Outside of work, Louisa loves to cook (and eat), be creative, and spend time outdoors, usually camping.

What does nurture mean to you?

To me, nurture means having a safe and comfortable space to explore, learn and be myself, in the company of people I know care for me, accept me and empower me. I truly believe that nurture is absolutely fundamental to healthy development and ability to learn and enjoy learning.

What do you enjoy about working at nurtureuk?

I love the fun and inclusive atmosphere at nurtureuk. We celebrate each other’s achievements and everyone passionately collaborates to achieve our mission. We are mission led and making nurture the norm informs everything we do.

Katharine is the Programme Coordinator for the Solihull Nurturing Schools Programme and the Surrey Nurturing Schools Programme. They are here to support over 150 schools in their nurturing journey.

Katharine has experience in customer service across the not for profit sector as well as working in education. They are driven by their desire to help people, listen and provide a safe space. Working in a school, they learned of the challenges faced in education and recognised the need for a nurturing environment.

In their free time they enjoy writing and performing poetry, painting and playing football.

What does nurture mean to you?

Nurture is an approach that helps us understand ourselves and others. It leads with empathy and kindness recognising the importance of everyone in the classroom and beyond. I see it as a way to overcome inequality at a crucial stage in a young person’s life.

What do you enjoy about working at nurtureuk?

I enjoy working towards a goal that aligns with my core values allowing me to engage authentically with the subject. The team is welcoming and supportive and I feel valued. Seeing the outcome of what we do and the difference it makes to the lives of children, young people, staff and the community is a hugely rewarding experience.

Rhian is a member of the Customer Support Team. Her passion for the charity was ignited by personal experience, as a close family member greatly benefitted from a nurture group in their school.

Prior to her role with nurtureuk, Rhian worked for her Local Authority as a Contact Tracer for NHS Wales Test Trace Protect Service. Within this position, she held responsibility of “education liaison”.

Outside of her professional endeavours, Rhian finds joy in crochet and other arts and crafts. Rhian also has a passion for travel and hopes to one day travel the world.

Rebecca leads on income generation for nurtureuk by developing partnerships with schools, multi-academy trusts, local authorities and all other organisations looking to improve the social, emotional and mental health of children and young people.

In 2018, Rebecca was awarded a doctorate in History. She is excited to combine her love of education with her many years experience of business development in the charity sector to support nurtureuk to achieve its vision.

Rebecca spends her spare time either cooking new recipes or reading fiction curled up on the sofa with her dog Remy.

What does nurture mean to you?

To me, nurture means being empathetic and encouraging so that people can achieve their very best – whether that’s the educators we deliver training to, our local authority and MAT partners, or my colleagues at nurtureuk.

What do you enjoy about working at nurtureuk?

All my colleagues, so many of whom have experience of working in schools. There is a real belief in nurture and everyone works well together because of the impact we know we can have on children and young people.

Jerina is nurtureuk’s Customer Support Manager, based in Staffordshire, leading the team who are the first point of contact for our customers.

Before joining nurtureuk in March 2023 Jerina worked as Customer Support Manager at a fintech start-up focused on reducing financial inequalities in the credit system and prior to that was Senior Broadcaster at INRIX, reporting on the travel news for local BBC and many well known national radio stations for 13 years.

Jerina is passionate about addressing inequalities in society and is excited to be able to support the staff who provide the nurture provision that makes such a positive difference to the lives of so many young people.

Outside of work Jerina loves spending time with her family and practising yoga.

What does nurture mean to you?

To me nurture is acknowledging that everyone’s experience of life is completely unique and that results in advantages and disadvantages in life chances and outcomes which are often completely out of an individuals control. From that place of acknowledgement an understanding develops that when a person is challenging or does not meet our expectations socially or emotionally we need to look beyond that to the full context of their life and instead of judgement and punishment or shutting down we need to be open and nurturing and extend care, support and friendship.

What do you enjoy about working at nurtureuk?

I love the people at nurtureuk, everyone has the children and young people that the charity exists to benefit at the forefront of their minds in everything they do. They are a great bunch of people who look out for each other, care for each other and enjoy a laugh!