Connected - The Thrive® Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

The latest episode of Thrive’s Connected podcast is celebrating National Bullying Prevention Month. In this episode, we’re joined by Jo Warner, Assistant Director of Education on the Joint Education Team of the Durham and Newcastle Diocesan Boards of Education. Jo talks about the guidance that church schools receive around bullying and how the 106 schools she works with put this into practice.

Listen to the 9-minute podcast to discover: 

•       An outline of the Church of England guidance for schools, Valuing All God’s Children and how this relates to the protected characteristics (of the Equality Act) and to bullying in a broader sense
•            Why relationships are crucial when it comes to creating an anti-bullying culture and why staff need to model positive relationships
•            How Thrive has changed Jo’s practice as an education professional
•       Why wellbeing needs to be a curriculum-wide approach, rather than staying confined to PHSE lessons

The latest episode of Thrive’s Connected podcast is celebrating National Bullying Prevention Month. In this episode, we’re joined by Beryce Nixon, CEO of the Exceed Learning Partnership, who explains how her MAT creates an anti-bullying culture across its settings. As well as discussing how the curriculum plays an important role in creating this culture, Beryce also explains how a MAT-wide approach can support schools, while still giving the freedom to respond to the needs of their own communities. 

Listen to the 21-minute podcast to discover: 

• Why MATs need to take a preventative approach to bullying rather than simply tackling incidents as they arise 

• How this culture can be created and embedded across a MAT so that it is truly effective 

• The role of curriculum design and how this can bring the idea of difference into everyday conversations for children and young people 

• How Thrive-Online helps the Exceed Learning Partnership to understand the individual needs of all pupils 

In this episode, we’re looking at attendance with Jayne Lowe, OBE, an education consultation and Department for Education adviser. Jayne is the founder and managing director of Bright Green Learning and started her career as a teacher before becoming a headteacher and behaviour and attendance consultant working with primary, secondary and special schools as well as local authorities. 

Jayne shares the latest data relating to attendance and looks at reasons behind current trends. She also puts forward some practical suggestions for what classroom staff and senior leaders can do to help improve attendance in their settings. 

Listen in to learn: 

• How to identify and remove barriers that may be making it difficult for children to attend 
• The importance of communicating, repeatedly, to staff and students what good attendance looks like 
• The power of welcomes – and how to welcome a young person back to school   
• How and why to use rewards 
• The importance of a whole school approach to attendance 

In this episode, we feature Thrive® Licensed Practitioner, Dawn Wheeldon, Behaviour Manager at Conyers School, in Stockton-on-Tees. Dawn and her colleagues decided to take a different approach to transition this year by working with a group of pupils who were identified as being likely to struggle with the transition to secondary school. Dawn reveals the simple strategies she implemented and explains the striking results they have had. 

Listen in to discover:  

• Why focusing on a core group of pupils is key – and how to identify them 
• Which activities work best to help pupils prepare for transition 
• Simple strategies to get buy in from parents and to build a positive relationship with them before term starts 
• How you can involve older pupils by creating successful buddy schemes  

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In this episode, Thrive’s Head of Innovation and Principal Trainer Viv Trask-Hall is joined by Child Bereavement UK’s Education Development Officer Rebecca Haycock to discuss how educators can support children and young people who may be showing signs of grief following the death of the Queen.

Listen in to learn:

• How to respond to questions that young people may ask
• Why the death of a high-profile person can be a trigger for previous bereavements
• How adults can support children and young people while managing their own grief
• How to approach ‘difficult’ conversations

In this episode, Thrive’s Managing Director, Anna Smee, considers the recent Times Education Commission’s report which calls for a ‘radical reset’ of our education system. Anna, who was previously CEO of the Youth Futures Foundation before joining Thrive earlier this year, considers the proposals the report makes around wellbeing – including a shift in emphasis towards prevention rather than cure and that teachers should be better-supported with annual training around mental health. 

In this episode, Thrive’s Strategic Lead and Trainer Kay Hamilton talks about how to improve mental wellbeing in your school quickly and effectively using existing resources and communication channels to avoid adding to the workload of classroom staff.

Listen to learn:

• How to identify opportunities to teach mental wellbeing skills and awareness
• Why focusing on improving children’s mental wellbeing will lead to improved outcomes including behaviour, attainment and attendance
• Questions you should ask yourself before embarking on mental health training
• The role of senior leaders – how to differentiate between strategy and implementation for effective outcomes

Listen in to discover:

• Tips to change your school’s mindset around inspections
• Why schools need to put the same emphasis on wellbeing as they do on traditional, academic subjects
• The importance of communicating wellbeing practice across the school community – including governors, families and support staff
• Why context is key for an inspector
• Why student voice is one of the most effective ways to evidence impact

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From Stephen Fry and suicide prevention to time-management skills and outdated PHSE, teenagers Conor and Bridie shine a light on the impetus for creating their mental health platform, Spark UK, and the content void they are working to fill.

Listen in to discover:

• Why anger fuelled a desire to curate mental health resources for young people
• The unexpected challenges facing teenagers today
• The ongoing stigma surrounding mental health – and where they feel society is in terms of a shift
• How to navigate school Wi-Fi alongside GCSEs and an impromptu live interview on Sky News!
• The importance of instilling self-care acts from a young age
• What’s next for Spark UK as an authority on young people’s mental health

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Emotional Based School Avoidance is a term used to describe children and young people who experience challenges in attending school due to negative feelings such as anxiety. In this episode, Dom Sagar, Thrive’s Relationship Manager for the North and Central England, explains that this is usually associated with emotional and physical distress and a reluctance to attend school or absconding from lessons within the settings - leading to reduced attendance.   The BBC reported last year that there is a ‘tsunami’ of cases of EBSA, in many cases exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic, with many parents and teachers struggling to support children.

Listen in to discover:

• The early signs of Emotional Based School Avoidance
• ‘In the moment’ strategies to tackle EBSA in your setting
• The neuroscience behind a student’s dysregulation
• How to support and steady your students for learning
• The importance of celebrating small wins on a daily basis
• Actionable insights to prevent school anxiety taking hold in the first place

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