The Thrive Approach at Vermont School

The children at Vermont School are here because they have an education health and care plan which has social emotional and mental health as one of their primary areas of need. The Thrive approach is about having an understanding of neuroscience (brain development), children development and attachment theory. 

We identify possible gaps in development and help to fill those gaps using a creative and playful approach. Thrive is preventative, reparative, pragmatic and easy to use. 

What is Thrive based on?

Thrive is based on neurological evidence which addresses brain development so that all children learn to regulate their emotional responses, develop resilience and manage disappointment and frustration. All children (and adults!) need a little emotional support when things are going wrong. Thrive provides a way of understanding and addressing the emotional and social development of all children. 

What are the guiding principles of the Thrive approach?

There are four guiding principles of the Thrive approach.

• Every child is a unique person, constantly developing and learning in different ways and at different rates, each with his/her own abilities, talents and potential to be fulfilled.
• Children’s healthy development, emotional well-being and learning are crucially dependent upon and promoted through positive relationships.
• Children flourish when they are confident, self-assured, capable and resilient.
• Children thrive in enabling environments, in which their individual development, learning experiences and needs are understood, responded to, and supported through strong partnerships with parents/carers.

What are the benefits of Thrive?

Thrive teaches the understanding of children’s behaviour as communication, improves learning skills and leads to greater attainment.

• It promotes productive learning for all children.
• It creates practical strategies.
• It supports and empowers, providing the confidence and competence to work with challenging and vulnerable children, and with parents and integrated teams. 
• It leads to better relationships at home and schools. 
• The approach is targeted, rigorous and measured.
   

Thrive and behaviour 

• Thrive recognises that behaviour is communication (even if that behaviour is seen as ’bad behaviour’) and helps adult to identify the gaps in children’s emotional development. 
• Thrive provides the necessary information and skills to address those gaps. 
• Emotional and social learning is essential and intrinsic to academic learning.

Some of the activities suggest suggested in the action plans are usually associated with children who are much younger and less able than the one being assessed. This is because many pupils require the experiences from their younger childhood to be revisited to enable the pathway in their brain to become established. This can be observed as a reward when it is actually therapy for that particular child. 

What kind of behaviour does it help with?

The Thrive approach helps children who are, temporarily or more permanently, restless, withdrawn or underachieving as well as those with attachment issues or challenging and destructive behaviours. At Vermont School we call these ‘distressed behaviours’ for a reason – they are communicating a need and typically this is a need rooted in distress.  

Schools that have introduced Thrive report improved attendance, reduced classroom disruption, better educational attainment and fewer exclusions. 

Parents report significant improvements in their relationships with their children as well as improved behaviour.

Children say they feel better understood and they get more out of school.
 

What are VRF’s?
Vital Relational Functions are the tools used in Thrive to address a child emotional state during a period of distress. 

Assessment

At Vermont School, we screen all our pupils as part of our ongoing assessments in order to create a baseline for future years. Our Thrive work addresses multiple areas within children’s EHCPs, it is recognised by OFSTED and it enables us to demonstrate progress in emotional development for each of our children. 

Thrive Practice

Each and every one of our children will benefit from Thrive practice and we currently have two Thrive Licensed Practitioners in training at the school: Miss Louisa and Miss Alana. We are also working with Every Need who are delivering staff training each week and have worked with us since January to support the delivery of Thrive across the school. The changes that Thrive has brought about can already be seen in the language used with children and also in the activities that children take part in.