St Mark and All Saint’s School embraces the Thrive Approach as the provision for improving children’s personal development, improving their mental health and ultimately ensuring they are ready to learn. The Thrive approach includes an intervention for those who need it and a whole school approach that works alongside our PSHE curriculum. All staff have a good understanding of the whole school approach and the approach is reflected in our behaviour policies. We have 2 trained Thrive Practitioners and all members of staff have been trained in the Thrive Approach. We have a dedicated Thrive room that children are able to access when dysregulated or when needing additional one to one support from a member of staff. We are currently working towards achieving the Thrive Ambassador Status.
What is the Thrive Approach?
The Thrive Approach has been developed over many years helping children to flourish. It supports their emotional and social development and helps them feel happy and secure, able to enjoy friendships, relate well to others and be ready and able to learn. Thrive is a specific way of working with all children that helps to develop their social and emotional wellbeing, enabling them to engage with life and learning. It supports them in becoming more self-assured, capable and adaptable. It can also address any troubling behaviours providing a firm foundation for academic attainment. Positive relationships are at the heart of Thrive. We use these relationships, together with play and creative activities, to give children key experiences at each different stage of their development. The Thrive Approach draws on the latest research into brain science, child development theory and attachment theory. It helps us to understand how babies’ and children’s brains develop, and how parents, teachers and other professionals can best support this development by providing the best experiences for the children at each stage. Thrive also helps us to better understand the children’s needs being signalled by their behaviour. Sometimes children may struggle as a result of temporary setbacks or other, longer term changes in their lives such as a separation, a bereavement, a family illness or accident, or even the arrival of a new baby. They may signal their distress by becoming more withdrawn, or distant, or perhaps more challenging or disruptive, or even by trying too hard to please. If this happens we use Thrive to look beyond the behaviour to give these children the support they need to get back on track. Sometimes they only need a little extra support in class and sometimes they may need additional one-to-one time to help them along.
Assessment of need
We use a screening tool and activity planning resource called Thrive-Online. This allows us to check that children are working appropriately for their age and to develop the whole group with activities that ensure that they are as emotionally and socially supported as they can be. Using Thrive-Online will also identify any children in need of extra intervention, and enables us to devise action plans for one to one sessions, the class and for home.
Family Thrive
Family Thrive is a 6 week course run throughout the year, by our 2 Thrive Practitioners. Parents whose children are accessing one to one sessions will be invited to attend the course in the first instance, this may then be offered out on a wider basis depending on capacity.
Sessions aim to support parents and carers wishing to learn more about the approach and it’s practical, everyday application to family life. It helps parents to understand how our brains development, the role of the adult/child relationship in aiding development, and how to support children at times of challenge and change.
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