What is Thrive

The Thrive Approach is a dynamic developmental approach to working with children and young people that supports their emotional and social wellbeing as the foundation to improve learning.

The Thrive Approach is based on four areas of research: neuroscience, attachment, child development and creative play. Thrive was developed in 1994 by a multiagency team of teacher, former Ofsted inspectors, social workers and therapists.

Thrive in school

• At Nettleworth Infant School and Nursery we provide a Whole School Thrive Approach; all children will benefit from Thrive.

• We use the online Thrive Approach toolkit to profile every class. This not only highlights any children who may need more intense support but also indicates how the class are developing and feeling as a whole, enabling the teacher to deliver specific activities to support children in the moment.

• Our license practitioner is then able to deliver more specialised and intense support to those children who need this. Support may be offered through small group or 1:1 work and may be delivered for a short period of time or to support longer term.

What does Thrive look like in practice?

• Thrive in practice incorporates building strong, safe relationships with the child and using creative (and often messy!) play to explore sensations and emotions and to learn to self-regulate. This will often involve having no expectations/outcomes for an activity, developing language and linking body sensation to emotion and enabling a child to communicate through play.

• We use paint, sand, water, puppets, shaving foam, glitter, music, drama, dance, nature, baking, junk modelling, story telling, trust games, hide and seek, scavenger hunts, board games, small world play, feathers, hand cream and even tea bags!