We are a Thrive School of Excellence!

We are delighted to share that we have become a Thrive School of Excellence for mental wellbeing after being awarded Thrive’s highest level of achievement. We are only the second secondary school in the country to be awarded this status and to mark the occasion, we had a whole school celebration on Friday! The school community were invited to “wear a Thrive colour” with Thrive activities taking place in classrooms and colourful Thrive themed cupcakes to enjoy. 

The award recognises extraordinary schools that are making a positive impact on their pupils, and on the wider community by prioritising emotional wellbeing. There are five areas in which schools can evidence how they use Thrive to support children’s social and emotional development: Environment, Leadership, Right-time, Reparative and Relationship, with the School of Excellent award reserved for school that achieve the highest standard across all five categories. 

We were joined at our celebration by Lord O’Shaughnessy, Jason Perry, the Mayor of Croydon and Jo Jack, Croydon Council’s Interim Head of Service: Access to Education/Interim Head of the Virtual School. Representatives from Meridian’s Multi Academy Trust, GLF Schools, were also in attendance: Fiona Jarman, Children’s Services Lead, Janet Miall, Business & Operations Director, Ben Wakefield, Chief Information & Digital Officer and Jak Martin, Head of Foundation.  

Lord O’Shaughnessy presented our Headteacher, Amy Anderson, and our four Thrive Ambassadors with the Award and Melanie Fisher, Thrive Relationship Manager for the East of England said a few words. She reflected on what a personal pleasure it had been to work with Meridian and the Thrive team including Jayne Curd, Senior Leader for Behaviour and David Greenidge, Thrive Lead Practitioner. She went on to say, “Relationships are at the heart of Thrive. As human beings we are social creatures, and we learn to be resilient through relationships. I am so incredibly proud of what you have achieved here at Meridian.” 

We have one Ambassador per year group and to apply for the role they had to write to Jayne Curd explaining why they would be suitable for the role, and if short listed they were interviewed by the Thrive team. One of the Ambassador’s reflected, “Thrive has helped me to manage my emotions, I can now regulate myself and I can use the strategies that I have learned to help other students who might find it difficult.  Being a Thrive Ambassador means I can support students who maybe having struggles with their emotional well-being." 

The Ambassadors gave the guests a tour of the school and Lord O’Shaughnessy commented that, “It has been a pleasure to meet the staff and students at Meridian and to see the Thrive approach being embedded throughout the school. I was impressed with how calm it was when we toured the school.” 

Amy Anderson added, “If children’s emotional wellbeing is nurtured then they will be able to learn effectively, and the rest will follow. Through adopting the Thrive Approach we are not only enabling our young people to succeed educationally but teaching them skills that will be with them for life.”