At Barford Primary School, every child matters and all children need to feel safe, valued, special, appreciated and included.
We want every child coming to our school to feel happy, content and confident, ready to embrace the day in our secure, caring and friendly environment.
However, some children face many challenges, which means that some of their social and emotional needs may be greater than those of others.
By using The Thrive Approach, we will help support and guide the children in our care to allow them to develop emotionally and distinguish between their feelings to help them manage these appropriately.
The school is very proud of its dedicated team of Thrive Licensed Practitioners who are able to offer support to both children and families with behaviour, special needs, attendance and emotional stability.
What is Thrive?
Thrive is a therapeutic approach to help support children with their emotional and social development. It is a whole school approach based around the latest research into the role of creativity and play in developing emotional resilience.
The Thrive approach offers practical strategies and techniques and is built around online assessments which identify children’s emotional development and provides action plans for their individual needs. Whole classes can also use Thrive techniques and activities to address any issues or as part of PSHRE sessions in school.
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.
All children sometimes need some extra support with their emotional growth and this can be temporary or over a longer period of time.
Roots To Fruit
We work closely with Roots to Fruits to provide learning through the outdoors. Over the last few years we have developed our Nature Area to include an outside classroom and with that fantastic experiences for our children to explore many different curriculum areas. Every Thursday, whatever the weather, Claire our Roots to Fruit teacher and the children are outside learning in nature.
Our Inclusion groups really benefit from their Roots to Fruit sessions, it gives them a different ways to experience the curriculum and develop their whole self.
Roots to Fruit provides lots of benefits to our children's wellbeing inlcuding:
1. Improves Mood and Reduces Stress
Spending time outdoors is vital for improving or maintaining positive mental health. Research has shown that by undertaking simple gardening activities, people can reduce their stress levels, and improve their mood and self-esteem.
2. It is a Form of Exercise
Studies have found that the average child only spends 16 minutes of exercise outside and less than 25% of kids meet the recommended daily level of physical activity. Digging and playing in the garden promotes increased levels of exercise, and helps kids use their imagination and creativity.
3. Get Closer to Nature
Children will love planting flowers which attract bees and butterflies into the garden space.
4. Encourages Healthy Eating
We don’t just have to plant flowers in your garden, we can also plant fruit or vegetables instead! By planting seeds or plants, we teach the child how food is grown and the lifecycle of a plant.
5. Encourages Sensory Development
Gardening stimulates all five senses, children feel different textures in the soil, seeds and plants, they are able to smell the flowers, hear the bees and birds, see the different colours of the plants and taste any vegetables, herbs or fruits you grow together.
6. Allows us to Spend Quality Time Together
Roots to Fruit sessions allows the children to take a step back and enjoy some mindful activity away from distractions; the perfect way to connect with nature and the world around them.
7. It's Fun
We don’t need expensive tools or plants to make a beautiful garden, just some pots, soil and some seeds, which in time, can blossom into a amazing outdoor spaces and provide hours of fun along the way.
