Thrive at Clwyd

Here at Clwyd, we have embraced the Thrive Approach for our school to support all children’s emotional and social learning throughout their school day.

What is the Thrive Approach?

Children cannot always put their needs into words, but the way children behave can tell us a lot about how they are feeling. The Thrive Approach draws on the latest research from current neuroscience, recent attachment research, current studies of effective learning and current models of child development. This helps the school to understand the needs being signalled by children’s behaviour. It gives us targeted strategies and activities to help them re-engage with learning and life.

Why do we need Thrive? 

Like all of us at some point in our lives, children may face challenges that knock them off course. What is needed is understanding and support to get them back on track. Many children will respond to the care, understanding and support given by parents, family, friends and teachers. However, some children need a little bit extra to enable them 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

What makes our school Thrive? 

We don’t consider Thrive to be an intervention for just a few children, we consider it to be a whole-school approach. We believe that all behaviour is communication and that communication needs to be understood and supported. Thrive feeds into everything we do; assemblies, getting to know everyone and their families, sharing all levels of achievements, celebrating our diversity, play-times and of course learning time.

What will happen in an individual or group Thrive session?

The session may be on an individual basis or as part of a small group of children. During each session there will be an activity which may include:

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

Vision and Aims

Develop children’s emotional understanding so that they are better equipped to recognise and distinguish their emotions, learning a range of ways to respond to their own and to other’s feelings appropriately.

We aim to:

• Provide relevant support for children who are experiencing emotional, social or behavioural difficulties.
• Use positive approaches to manage all behaviours.
• Give children opportunities to develop their understanding of their own and others emotions.
• Provide a safe and non-judgemental environment for any support sessions.
• Take pride and celebrate their achievements as well as improve self-esteem.