Our vision and aims

At Middlemarch School we believe 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.

• Provide alternative support for children who are experiencing emotional, social or behavioural difficulties,
• Provide a safe and calm environment for children to develop their skills,
• Enable children to take pride in their achievements and enhance self-esteem,
• Help children to manage their feelings and develop skills to enjoy and participate in school life, and
• Use positive approaches to manage all behaviours. 

What is Thrive?

Thrive is a therapeutic approach to help support children with their emotional and social development.

The Thrive Approach offers practical strategies and techniques and built around online assessments which identify children's emotional development and provides action plans for their individual needs.

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.

Thrive promotes their emotional and social growth by building positive relationships between a child and their peers and helps them explore and understand their feelings through various activities.

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, and
• Not knowing who to turn to when feelings are too big to manage on their own.

These situations can lead to many 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 happens to a lot of children. The Thrive sessions are 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 sessions may be an individual basis or as part of a small group of children and these are run by Mrs Stokes, who is our Thrive Licenced Practitioner. During each session there will be an activity which may include:

• Story telling,
• Circle games,
• Arts and crafts,
• Sand play,
• Movement and relaxation,
• Hand massage,
• Role play and puppet work, and
• Games.

All staff in school have received training in The Thrive Approach, which is also used in class when working with our children.

More Information

For more information about the Thrive Approach, please see the website: www.thriveapproach.co.uk or email Mrs Stokes on: stokes.t1@welearn365.com

Mental Health in Schools Team

The Mental Health in Schools Team is an NHS service that has been introduced as part of the national plans to expand mental health services for children, young people and their families within the education setting.

They are here to provide mental health interventions, advice, and liaison with specialist services to help children and young people get the right support. They work closely with schools to develop our ‘whole school and college approach’ to mental health and wellbeing.

They support young people who are experiencing low mood and a range of anxiety difficulties.

The team consists of qualified and trainee Educational Mental Health Practitioners (EMHPs), Senior Educational Mental Health Practitioners, Specialist Mental Health Practitioners, Team Leaders, a Service Manager and Clinical Lead.

Between them, they  have a wealth of experience supporting children and young people with their mental health.

Our Mental Health practitioner is: Sophie Moreland

Mental Health Team in School

Our senior mental health lead is Mrs Mawdsley ably supported by our pastoral and SEND team

RISE

Rise is Coventry and Warwickshire's CAHMS service. It is a family of NHS-led services providing emotional wellbeing and mental health services for children and young people in Coventry and Warwickshire.

Rise aims to build resilience and empower children and young people (as well as the adults in their lives) to know where to go for help and advice.

It’s made up of a number of different services, each led by mental health specialists.

No matter why or how you access Rise we want you to receive the right support at the right time.

A journey with Rise is as unique as the person seeking support. So the support each person receives may be different. The ways Rise may support you are:

• Direct support: group sessions for young people and their parents or carers
• School-based resilience programmes: such as Boomerang, Big Umbrella and Mental Health in School Teams
• Support the people who support you: working alongside social care, schools and other professionals
• Community-based support for parents and carers through Rise Community Partnerships and Coventry Family Hubs
• 24-hour support through the Dimensions Tool and  CWRise
•  

Rise is Coventry and Warwickshire's CAHMS service. It is a family of NHS-led services providing emotional wellbeing and mental health services for children and young people in Coventry and Warwickshire.

Rise aims to build resilience and empower children and young people (as well as the adults in their lives) to know where to go for help and advice.

It’s made up of a number of different services, each led by mental health specialists.

No matter why or how you access Rise we want you to receive the right support at the right time.

A journey with Rise is as unique as the person seeking support. So the support each person receives may be different.

The ways Rise may support you are:

• Direct support: group sessions for young people and their parents or carers
• School-based resilience programmes: such as Boomerang, Big Umbrella and Mental Health in School Teams
• Support the people who support you: working alongside social care, schools and other professionals
• Community-based support for parents and carers through Rise Community Partnerships and Coventry Family Hubs
• 24-hour support through the Dimensions Tool and  CWRise