vel, policy adoption is driven by poor attendance rates, high levels of deprivation and poverty and reported low rates of emotional wellbeing and life satisfaction. Whilst there has been a local authority focus on improving outcomes for learners across literacy and numeracy, the health and wellbeing of our children and young people also needs to be considered. Only focussing on improvement in literacy and numeracy levels in a bid to compete with local and national league tables may have an unintended negative impact on the health and wellbeing of pupils arising from such pressures. Within Applying Nurture as a Whole School Approach (Education Scotland, 2016) fostering positive relationships using nurturing approaches underpins all positive learning and teaching experiences for children and, in turn, can have a positive influence on increased attendance in school and raising attainment. This is supported by Geddes (2018) who acknowledges the correlation between positive relationships with trustworthy adults and attendance and attainment. However, Geddes (2018) also acknowledges that teachers may not always feel equipped or have the knowledge and understanding on how to support children with emotional, social and behavioural needs. Research carried out by Doyle (2004) supports the ideology of mainstream school staff undergoing professional development supporting children with diverse social, emotional and behavioural needs, regardless of their own barriers to learning.

My local authority have recently introduced their own Health and Wellbeing Strategy (2017) and a policy entitled ‘Boosting Brains, Boosting Learning: A Briefing to Support Educator Understanding of the Readiness for Learning Approach’ (2018) in a bid to support the structure and delivery of the curriculum so that children can be the best learners they can be and achieve the best possible outcomes, regardless of background. Both documents take account of global and national policy and have been written in direct response to the work carried out by the Scottish Attainment Challenge (SAC) and the National Improvement Framework (NIF) with schools held accountable to strategic aims of the documents. They take relevant data from the 2016 Scottish Multiple Index of Deprivation (SIMD) into account which indicates that 26% of families in my local authority live in poverty and locality data stating that Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) are more prevalent in my local authority than in other parts of the Scotland and the UK. The long term aims of the policies are clear with both seeking to achieve both excellence and equity for all children and young people, but neither have been disseminated to council employees effectively and few know of their existence. Although staff are familiar with Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE), few are aware of how the data is directly linked to local families thus impacting