Hillcroft Primary honoured for emotional development work

A primary school in Caterham has got the feelgood factor after being awarded ambassador status by a nationwide schools mental health initiative.

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​Hillcroft Primary School, on Chaldon Road, was given the title by the Thrive organisation, which has been working in schools for the last 25 years to support children’s emotional and social development.

“Thrive is all about helping children to be more creative, resourceful, empathetic, and to feel good about themselves, developing problem-solving skills and building stronger trusting relationships,” said Debbie Pearson, lead Thrive practitioner at Hillcroft.

“We’ve found the Thrive approach to be really helpful, so we applied for this status, which is given to schools that have shown excellence in how they have used it among the school community. We did so because we want to showcase how it’s worked for us, and how it could be of benefit for other schools as well.”

Hillcroft is part of GLF Schools, a multi-academy trust that manages 41 schools all over the southeast of England, from Oxfordshire to Sussex, and Mrs Pearson said she was hopeful other schools in the Trust would be inspired to investigate Thrive for themselves.

“We would love to welcome other schools into our setting and share our wonderful work and experiences,” she said. “We’re very proud to have achieved ambassador status because it rewards all the hard work done by so many people in our school community.

“It shows we care about the wellbeing of our children as much as we care about their education, and also that we understand about the importance of emotional development, as well as academic progress.

“The work of Thrive is already incorporated into the school curriculum by doing weekly videos and activities for every year group, and this badge of honour shows what a difference it has made. It’s something that’s a great credit to the school, which I hope will make it more attractive to potential new parents.”