THE THRIVE APPROACH AT TREMAINS PRIMARY SCHOOL.
For all of us at Tremains Primary School, our first priority is to care for every pupil in a secure, friendly environment enabling them to enjoy their time in school and feel confident to learn. In order to maintain this ethos, the staff work together to support pupil’s emotional and social learning, we maintain this attitude during lesson times, break times and through all activities that take place throughout the day to make sure our pupils feel secure in school.
What is the Thrive Approach?
Thrive is a developmental approach to working with children and young people that helps teachers and adults interpret behaviour and address individual children’s needs. Thrive is a specialist intervention programme which supports children with their emotional health, well-being and social skills; all of which are needed for learning to take place. Thrive is based on up to date brain science and research into child development and helps all the staff in our school to adapt their approach to individual children to build self-esteem, well-being and positive behaviour.
Why do we need Thrive?
Unfortunately, like all of us at some point in our lives, children may face challenges that knock them off course. Children cannot always put their needs into words, but the way children behave can tell us a lot about how they are feeling. Our sense of well-being relies on us being safe, feeling special and having our needs met. These things are the foundation of a good internal “stress management system,” enabling us to be resilient and to calm down quickly after experiencing powerful emotions rather than reacting explosively. It is important that as teachers, parents and carers we recognise that the behaviour we observe each and every day is a communicator. The behaviours the children display are telling us something and the way in which we respond to such behaviours is a significant part of the Thrive Approach. What is needed during this time is understanding and support to get them back on track. Thrive Practitioners are specially trained to help children to recognise a range of emotions, to develop a good stress management system and to support any child who needs to change disruptive, inappropriate or unsafe behaviours.
What is a Thrive Assessment?
The Thrive Approach offers practical, effective tools and techniques that work, built around a web-based assessment and action plan tool, underpinned by a programme of training and mentoring support. Thrive assessments help to identify emotional developmental needs; children are then able to have those gaps in emotional development needs met on an individual basis. The assessment is non-intrusive and confidential; children do not have to sit a test, it is carried out by trained staff that screens every child. This is done from using knowledge of each individual through on-going observation in and out the classroom. In the same way school offer additional support for pupils who are finding literacy or maths challenging, the Thrive Practitioners support children who need more targeted intervention when something has knocked them off track emotionally or to improve their behaviour. Wherever possible the Practitioner will work alongside parents/carers and teachers to assess individual children and create action plans for both home and school.
What is a Thrive Action Plan?
A Thrive Action Plan is a plan of activities tailored to support a pupil’s identified social and emotional learning targets. The activities are one-to-one and small group relational, play and arts-based activities designed to help the pupil feel better about themselves; become more resilient and resourceful; form trusting; rewarding relationships; be compassionate and empathetic; and/or able to overcome difficulties and setbacks.
What are the principles of Thrive?
There are four guiding principles of the Thrive Approach:
• Every child is a unique person, constantly developing and learning in different ways and at different rates, each with his/her own abilities, talents and potential to be fulfilled.
• Children’s healthy development, emotional well-being and learning are crucially dependent upon, and promoted through, positive relationships.
• Children flourish when they are confident, self-assured, capable and resilient.
• Children thrive in enabling environments, in which their individual development, learning experiences and needs are understood, responded to and supported through strong partnerships with parents/carers.
Embracing Thrive: a parent’s guide
For us this means that we have Thrive embedded within our whole school ethos, we passionately believe in and deliver a creative curriculum by working in this extremely focussed way with pupils at Tremains PrimarySchool we can really make a difference to building their social and emotional resilience.
If you want to know more about Thrive, please visit www.thriveapproach.com or contact a member of our Thrive Team for further information:
Mr Tom Maybery
Mrs Elaine Roberts
Ms Tricia Kendrik
Mrs Rachel Brown
