We foster the best outcomes for our children by understanding the importance of emotional wellbeing as a foundation for academic success. Through the use of the Thrive Approach, children are supported to acquire the understanding, skills and personal relationships required to develop, and sustain, healthy social and emotional wellbeing. We believe this is paramount in giving children the best chance of positive outcomes throughout their primary school career.

The Education Reform Act states that the curriculum should:

• Promote the spiritual, moral, cultural, emotional and physical development of pupils at the school and of society
• Prepare pupils for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of adult life

At St. Oswald’s Church of England Primary School, we believe that children have the right to independence, choice and inclusion, and we seek to provide opportunities for personal growth and emotional health and wellbeing.

Children learn who they are and how the world is by forming relationships with people and things around them. The quality of a child’s relationship with significant adults is vital to their healthy development and emotional health and wellbeing.

A number of children at our school need to access the THRIVE programme in order to support their emotional development. Those children, who require support from the THRIVE programme, for a number of various reasons are below the age-related expectations for social and emotional development. Although the PSHE curriculum is well embedded throughout the school, children who struggle to obtain vital social and emotional skills are not always able to access this curriculum and so need further support from the THRIVE programme.

• Is a dynamic developmental approach to working with vulnerable children that provides physical strategies to address their needs
• Is an approach based on relationships with caring, consistent adults
• Finds the earliest missing experience and fills the gaps in the developmental stages
• Recognises that if children do not get experiences positively they will seek them negatively

It is our purpose to provide a secure, caring atmosphere of trust and stability, giving all children the necessary support and guidance for their social and emotional development.

We hope to achieve this through the following:

• A promise of confidentiality in order to support children and parents alike
• A fair and consistent approach towards requests for support
• All school staff to be aware of the theory, underlying principles and assessment procedures of THRIVE
• All staff to use THRIVE techniques and strategies on a daily basis when encountering children
• Designated time slots throughout the week for group and/or 1:1 work with the THRIVE TA’s.
• A developing bank of resources for activities agreed in the action plan
• A lunchtime DOING club for children who find the unstructured time difficult to deal with