Thrive Approach

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At Durham Trinity School and Sports College, our motto is ‘Nurture-Believe-Thrive-Succeed’ and we help our pupils to do this through proudly implementing the Thrive Approach across school. The approach supports emotional and social development in all of our pupils, it includes whole class activities and also interventions for individuals where necessary.

It has been scientifically proven that there is a link between a child’s sense of wellbeing and their success as learners- if pupils feel happy and supported at school, they are much more likely to achieve success in their learning.  The Thrive Approach also supports pupils as they learn to think about their emotions, choices and friendships so that they are able to develop into confident, skilful young people who enjoy learning and respect each other. The Thrive Approach highlights the importance of being safe, feeling special and having our needs met which are key to a child’s sense of wellbeing. If these 3 aspects are met, pupils are more likely to develop robust ‘stress management’ systems. This means that pupils are more likely to be resilient and regulate more quickly after experiencing difficult feelings such as disappointment or frustration. Without a strong stress management system, they may be more inclined to react to these feelings in an ‘explosive’ way.

In school, we currently have 4 highly experienced and skilled Thrive Practitioners who have completed a 10-day in-depth, licensed course. The practitioners offer more targeted intervention to pupils who need this when something may have knocked them off track emotionally, in the same way that Durham Trinity offers additional support for pupils who are finding academic subjects challenging. Thrive Practitioners are specially trained to help pupils to express their feelings safely through arts, play and other often practical activities, to recognise a range of emotions, to develop a good stress management system and to support any pupils who need to change inappropriate or unsafe behaviours.

Each class is assessed to identify any pupils who may benefit further from intervention with a Thrive practitioner, however school would always seek consent from parents/carers before beginning any Thrive intervention.

If you would like to read more about the Thrive Approach, visit www.thriveapproach.co.uk