The Thrive Approach
What is the Thrive Approach?
The Thrive Approach is a dynamic, trauma-informed approach designed to meet the emotional and social needs of all children and young people. It is informed by neuroscientific research (studies of the brain), and is underpinned by child development theory, attachment theory and research into creativity, play and the arts.
Fundamental to the Approach is the finding from neuroscientific research that children’s brains develop in response to their experiences in relationships. This means that if we want to support optimal development in children, we need to understand their specific social and emotional needs at each age and then provide them with the right set of experiences and relationships to meet those needs.
Thrive helps us to do this in our school by providing online training, tools and resources to support us in the following areas:
- Understanding of Thrive theory
- Identifying and meeting children’s age-related needs
- Identifying and meeting children’s additional needs
- Developing relational skills
- Creating the right environment, policies and practices
What is a Thrive Licensed Practitioner?
A Thrive Licensed Practitioner is a professional working in education or childcare trained in the Thrive Approach to support the social and emotional development of children and young people. They use neuroscience and attachment theory to help pupils who struggle with behaviour, mental health, or classroom engagement.
Mrs Johnston is our Thrive Licensed Practitioner and can be contated via the school office at shb-office@shb.jtmat.co.uk for further information about how this approach could support your child.
What is Thrive-Online?
Thrive-Online is the tool that enables us to put the Thrive Approach into practice. It enables us to identify the specific social and emotional needs of the children in our care and suggests a range of strategies and activities that we can choose from to help us meet those needs. These strategies and activities can be incorporated into a wide range of group sessions – for example, they can be embedded into curriculum teaching and subject lessons, used in assemblies and circle time activities, or within smaller groups.
Thrive-Online also enables us to identify children who would benefit from additional support with their social and emotional skills. These children are often the ones with whom it is harder to build a relationship. They may seem shut down and hard to reach, withdrawn, agitated, aggressive or persistently disruptive in their behaviour. Thrive Licensed Practitioners are able to carry out more in-depth assessments of these children, and to provide the additional one-to-one or small-group support that they need. Thrive Licensed Practitioners can also advise on how we can support these children with simple, effective relational strategies in class.
Over time, using Thrive-Online and working together with our school’s Licensed Practitioner will help us to build stronger relationships with all of the children in our care, enabling us to connect with them more effectively and to help them feel safe, secure and ready to learn. This will enhance everyone’s emotional wellbeing, reduce stress, and create a learning environment that supports optimal development.
The Thrive Approach is a key element within our Inclusion Strategy.
Useful Resources for Parents
Below you find some useful links and resources to help with your understanding of the Thrive Approach.