Thrive

Our Licenced Thrive Practitioners are Miss Cottingham and Mrs Hibbert.

We want our children to feel happy and secure, to be able to enjoy friendships, to relate well to others and be ready and able to learn. We recognise the impact a child’s emotional development has on their overall achievement and have embedded the use of The Thrive Approach in order to support the emotional and social development of the children in our school.

By using The Thrive Approach we can support and guide the children in our care to recognise and distinguish their emotions and learn ways of responding to their feelings appropriately.

We aim to:

Provide alternative support for children who are experiencing emotional, social or behavioural difficulties.
Provide a safe and calm environment for children to develop their skills.
Enable children to take pride in their achievements and enhance self-esteem.
Help children to manage their feelings and develop skills to enjoy and participate in school life.
Use positive approaches to manage all behaviours.
Enable children to engage in life and learning.

What is Thrive?

Thrive is a therapeutic approach used to help support children with their emotional and social development. It draws on the latest research in child development and neuroscience in order to help us understand the needs being signalled by a child’s behaviour. Children cannot always put their needs into words, but the way they behave can tell us a lot about how they are feeling.

The Thrive Approach offers practical strategies and techniques built around online assessments which identify a child’s emotional development needs and provides action plans to help them re-engage with learning and life.

Why Might my Child attend a Thrive session?

Many children experience difficulties during their time at school. These may include:

Difficulties with friendships.
Getting into trouble at playtime.
Finding it hard to settle in the classroom.
Finding it difficult to manage their strong feelings.
Emotional upheaval.
Not knowing who to turn to when feelings are too big to manage on their own.

These situations can lead to many different feelings which may seem overwhelming at times. They might include: anger, frustration, sadness, loneliness, confusion or anxiety.

All these feelings are very normal and happen to a lot of children. The Thrive sessions are to help children learn to manage their feelings and teach them strategies that will help promote their learning at school. Our whole school commitment to The Thrive Approach impacts positively on pupils’ emotional and mental well-being, ensuring that they are confident in securing healthy relationships.

What will happen in a Thrive session?

The session may be on an individual basis or as part of a small group of children. During each session there will be an arts-based activity designed to help the child feel better about themselves; become more resilient and resourceful, form trusting, rewarding relationships, be compassionate and empathetic, and be able to overcome difficulties and setbacks. Activities might include:

Story telling
Circle games
Arts and crafts
Sand play
Movement and relaxation
Cooking and preparing food
Role play and puppet work
Games
Outdoor activities
Emotional exploration
Therpuetic time with our school dog

If you would like to find out more about The Thrive Approach and how it works in our school, please come and talk to one of our licenced Thrive practitioners.