#ThriveImpact - 'Relationships are key to resilience'

An academy has been named as a school of excellence for its support of pupils' emotional health and wellbeing.

Bilsthorpe Flying High Academy has been recognised as a school of excellence by Thrive, an approach to education developed to support the emotional health and wellbeing of children and young people as a foundation to improve their learning.

Nykki Hinton, Thrive Licensed Practitioner at the academy, said: “We are very excited to announce that we have been awarded the Thrive Ambassador School with Excellence in Relationships in recognition of our whole school Thrive Approach. At Bilsthorpe Flying High Academy, we have worked hard to create safe and meaningful relationships both with our children and with the wider community.”

Bilsthorpe Flying High Academy are a Thrive School of Excellence, supporting the wellbeing of all children to improve learning.

Nykki explained that by following a whole-school approach, every child benefits, whether through whole class activities, small group work or one to one sessions with the Thrive practitioner.

Parents are also invited to attend information sessions and the school’s family Thrive course, to gain insight and strategies to support their own children.

To achieve the status of Thrive School of Excellence in relationships, schools have to demonstrate how they support the importance of relationships and make connections to the Thrive approach throughout school.

Nykki added: “Children’s relationships, as well as their repeated experiences are big contributors to how their stress regulation system reacts and responds to perceived threats. Children’s relationships and experiences at school contribute to this and therefore it is our duty to ensure these are positive. This includes ensuring that all of our children are receiving Thrive input and that all staff have an understanding of, and can implement, the Thrive Approach using appropriate language and understanding. We also ensure that parents have information and opportunities to learn more about the Thrive Approach.

“At Bilsthorpe Flying High Academy we believe that relationships are key to building emotional strength and resilience and we are so proud that we have achieved this recognition after only introducing the Thrive approach in the Summer term of 2021. However, our Thrive journey does not stop here, and we are committed to continuing to establish the benefits within our school community, sharing the ethos and supporting our children to become emotionally strong and resilient.”

There are four more excellence awards created by Thrive, and the school is working hard to achieve all of them.

Sam Leek, Bilsthorpe Flying High Academy head, said: “The Thrive Approach is fundamentally about the wellbeing of children as a foundation to improving their learning. The approach helps us to create an environment of safety for children, making every child feel special and to support their needs on an individual basis. This naturally improves their learning as children grow in confidence. We are proud of being recognised as a school which is developing positive and aspirational children who will fulfil their best potential.”

 This article was featured in the Newark Advertiser.