Thrive Approach

Oldcastle Primary School are fortunate to have adopted ‘Thrive’ a therapeutic approach to help support children with their emotional and social development.  The Thrive approach is built around online assessments which identify children’s emotional development and provides action plans for their individual needs. Thrive Online help us assess and develop action plans for individual children.  This ensures that the adults working with them understand their individual needs and are able to meet these most effectively. 

Research has shown that how we behave is linked to how we feel and our emotions are linked to how we learn. By teaching children to recognise and notice these feelings and emotions it can help with their development and learning.  Children sometimes need some extra support with their emotional growth and this can be temporary or over a longer period of time. Our aim is to develop happy, confident and curious minds.

Why might my child attend a Thrive session? 

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

• Difficulties with friendships.
• Getting into trouble at playtime.
• Finding it hard to 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 designed 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 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

Children's Mental Health 

For Children’s Mental Health Week 2023, we encouraged pupils to connect with others in healthy, rewarding and meaningful ways.  Parents may find the information via this link useful.  Children's Mental Health Week - Information for families