Thrive

At Telford Infant School, we put the children at the heart of absolutely everything we do and nurture and celebrate the whole child as an individual.  To support this we embrace the Thrive approach to improve and support children's personal development, their mental health and ultimately ensuring they are ready to learn. The Thrive approach has been developed over many years to help children flourish:

•        It supports their emotional and social development 
•        Helps our children to feel happy and secure
•        Helps children to enjoy friendships
•        Supports children relating to each other
•        Helps our children be ready to learn

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 development. 

Thrive supports children in becoming more self assured, capable and adaptable.

Practising Thrive involves carrying out a detailed assessment of a child's emotional needs, putting together a carefully differentiated action plan of strategies and activities that aim to address those needs and systematically reviewing the child's need to monitor progress.

 With the support of Thrive training and Thrive-Online, adults learn how to help children and young people to:

•         feel good about themselves
•         know that they matter
•         become more resilient and resourceful
•         have a positive place in society
•         form trusting, rewarding relationships
•         be creative
•         be compassionate and empathetic
•         be thoughtful and self-aware
•         be productive
•         be able to overcome difficulties and setbacks

 At times we use Thrive approaches with individual children but our approaches are tailored to meet the needs of whole classes.  The emphasis is on providing positive, descriptive feedback to children.  Activities are based on the arts and unleashing children’s creative talents.  We use puppets, sandpits, feathers, mirrors, sensory blocks and raw materials that enable children to creatively express their thoughts, emotions and sensations.  Adopting a positive attitude is key to successes. By working in this extremely focused way with individual children we can really make a difference to their social and emotional resilience.

Why might my child attend Thrive sessions?

Many children experience difficulties during their time in school. These may include:

•         Struggles with friendships.
•         Finding it hard to transition and/or settle in the classroom.
•         Finding it difficult to manage their strong feelings.
•         Not knowing who to turn to when feelings are too big to manage on their own.

 These situations can lead to many different feelings which may seem overwhelming at times. They might include: anger, frustration, sadness, loneliness, confusion or anxiety. All these feelings are very normal and happen to a lot of children. The Thrive sessions are to help children learn to manage their feelings and teach them strategies that will help promote their learning at school.

What will happen in a Thrive session?

The sessions may be individual or part of a small group

 During each session there will be an activity tailored to your child, which may include:

•         Story telling
•         Circle games
•         Arts and crafts
•         Sand play
•         Movement and relaxation
•         Cooking and preparing food
•         Role play and puppet work

If you would like to know more about Thrive within our school or think your child may benefit from an individual Thrive session, please contact your child’s class teacher.  Please note that children are assessed for individual Thrive sessions and are placed on a waiting list according to need.