Thrive

The Thrive Approach

Here at St Mary’s we are committed to creating a nurturing and inclusive environment for all. Through The Thrive Approach we are able to support all children with their emotional health, wellbeing and social skills, all of which are needed for learning to take place. Children cannot always put their needs into words, but the way children behave can tell us a lot about how they are feeling.

Our Thrive Vision and Aims

Our Vision is to:

Develop children emotionally, so they are able to recognise and distinguish their emotions and learn ways of responding to their feelings appropriately.

We aim to:

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

What is Thrive?

Thrive is a therapeutic approach to help support children with their emotional and social development. It is a whole school approach which draws upon the latest research from current neuroscience, recent attachment research, current studies of effective learning and current models of child development, in order to help us to understand the needs being signalled by our children’s behaviour.

The Thrive Approach offers practical strategies and skills to support children to think for themselves, show initiative, gain confidence and show tolerance and awareness of others.

Thrive promotes emotional and social growth by building positive relationships between a child, their peers and the teaching staff and helps them explore and understand their feelings through various strategies and activities.

It is built around online assessments which identify children’s emotional development. We have a dedicated Thrive room and 3 members of staff who work with children across the school on tailored action plans, as well as providing ongoing programmes of emotional support via the classrooms. All the staff within the school have accessed Thrive training from our trained Thrive lead.

Our individual Thrive sessions may include sand play, cooking, painting, model making, exploring difficult situations through role-play or comic strips, playing strategy games or projects focusing on the child’s own interests.

If you would like further information on The Thrive Approach, please go to: www.thriveapproach.co.uk or contact Mrs Anoushka Jones (Lead Thrive Practitioner) at office@stmarysyate.org.uk

Our Wonderful Thrive Rooms

We have 2 designated spaces to support the emotional wellbeing of our children here at St Mary's. The Hive is a quiet space where children go to enjoy 'Community Time' first thing in the morning to ensure that they have a positive start to the school day. Throughout the day our 'Well-being' Practitioner Mrs Wishart supports individuals and runs workshops to ensure we are meeting the well-being needs of our children.

The spaces, complete with sensory areas aim to provide tranquil and welcoming safe places within the school for our children to spend time in. The children love these new rooms and look forward to the calm moments these magical spaces offer them.