What is Thrive?

THRIVE is a dynamic approach to supporting children’s emotional health, well-being and social skills, all of which are needed to enable effective life-long 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. For some children there may be an obvious reason why they need extra support. This might be due to bereavement; family break down or an identified medical condition such as ADHD. For others, there may not be any obvious reasons as to why they are finding some aspects of school and/or home life difficult.
 
Based on the latest research from neuroscience, attachment theory, child development theory and the role of creativity and play, The Thrive Approach helps us to understand the needs being signalled by children’s behaviour and provides ways we can effectively support them. We have a shared understanding that unless a child is able to access the ‘thinking’ part of their brain, they are unable to stop impulses and core emotions which can lead to them becoming overwhelmed. Thrive is about modelling and supporting their emotional regulation, until a child is able to do this for themselves, supporting them to access their ‘thinking’ brain to make sense of how they are feeling and develop the ability to stop, think and choose their behaviour. 

Children's Emotional Development

​Children’s brains develop from the bottom up and from right to left. The building blocks of children’s emotional development are central to Thrive theory. The Thrive Approach helps us to understand that children may have interruptions due to all kinds of events that occur in life. The adult role at each of these times is key in supporting healthy development and seeking to support interruptions as they are recycled through life. Children have key tasks to learn at each age and stage.

The Adult Role

​It is all about relationships. For children to truly Thrive, the relationships they build with significant adults is vitally important. We are the co-regulator, co-adventurer and co-constructor of meaning for children in the early years of their lives. The way they respond to their stress and distress shapes their emotional regulation system and determines whether, in times of challenge, children are able to access their social engagement system for self-regulation or are triggered into fight, flight or freeze.
 
Through Thrive we aim to work with children at the right time for their development (Power and Identity for Early Years and Key Stage 1 and Skills and Structure for Key Stage 2). Our Thrive practitioner supports class teachers to carry out class profiles after which personalised action plans are created to support the whole class in their age appropriate strand. Thrive Time is carried out frequently alongside statutory PSHE lessons to support development in this strand.
 
Within each class there may be children who require deeper support in their emotional development of earlier strands. In these cases, our Thrive practitioner will work collaboratively with class teachers, teaching assistants and parents to provide supportive training and to use the online tool to identify the child’s social, emotional and behavioural needs. A plan of support, with targeted strategies and activities is then created to help children positively rebuild their emotional development blocks to help them engage more effectively with learning and life. Thrive activities can take place in the Thrive room through 1:1 or small group sessions. The Thrive room is a safe, quiet space with great resources.
 
The Thrive Approach is not a quick-fix; it takes time and commitment to see results. However, from research it is clear that early intervention to support children’s needs is the most effective approach to preventing issues becoming more problematic in later life.

What are the Thrive Activities?

​A plan of activities is created, tailored to support each child’s identified social and emotional learning needs. The activities are one-to-one and/or small group and are rooted in the role of creativity and play. They are designed to help the child grow in self-confidence; become more resilient and resourceful; form trusting, rewarding relationships; become more compassionate and empathetic; learn strategies in managing their big emotions and provide ways to help them navigate challenges they face.
Activities might include playing in the sand, 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. The activities are shared with parents who are encouraged to do similar activities at home with their child. They are reviewed regularly to monitor how children are progressing and adapted where appropriate. 

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Thrive is about ‘how’ we are with the children as well as what we do!

All staff are trained in the basics of the Thrive Approach. We use PACE as a basis of ‘how’ we are with the children and we use the VRFs (Vital Relational Functions) as strategies to support us with what we do.

Our Thrive practitioner has received high quality training through the Thrive organisation and is required to attend a number of webinars and sessions each year to remain as an accredited licenced practitioner. Whole staff training is delivered by our Thrive practitioner on a regular basis to ensure that Thrive is not an intervention but a whole school ethos and approach, committing to improving children’s emotional health and well-being.
 
If you would like further information on The THRIVE Approach, please visit the Thrive Approach website www.thethriveapproach.co.uk
Alternatively, you can speak to your child’s class teacher or our school’s THRIVE practitioner, Jo Brice.