Barking and Dagenham Thrive Hub
Supporting young people’s social and emotional wellbeing across a borough
Barking and Dagenham’s Thrive Hub is helping schools strengthen social and emotional support for children and young people across the borough.
Co-led by Katie Parks and Nicola Gough, the Hub draws on strong practice from local Thrive Schools of Excellence to support settings with training, guidance, Family Thrive and practical help to embed the Approach in a way that works for their community.
The Context
Barking and Dagenham local authority launched the Thrive Hub to share the expertise already developed in local schools and support more settings to strengthen their Thrive practice.
Rose Lane Primary School and Hunters Hall Primary School have both achieved Thrive School of Excellence status, and their experience now helps shape the support available to other schools across the borough.
Why Thrive?
For Katie Parks, Thrive complements therapeutic work by offering a whole-school, graduated approach. It supports universal whole-class sessions, group work and individual Thrive sessions, while also helping schools identify when pupils may need additional therapy or referral to external services.
Katie has also seen the difference Thrive can make for children who need something beyond traditional approaches. In her work with a non-verbal autistic child in the Additional Resource Provision at Rose Lane, Thrive gave her a framework to build emotional connection, routine and trust.
For Nicola Gough, seeing Thrive in practice was the starting point. When she visited Katie’s setting in 2016, she was struck by the impact and took that learning back to Hunters Hall Primary School, where she later led Thrive implementation through to School of Excellence status.
FROM SCHOOL EXCELLENCE TO BOROUGH-WIDE SUPPORT
How the Thrive Hub was developed
The Thrive Hub was created to make use of the expertise already built in local Thrive Schools of Excellence and share this more widely across Barking and Dagenham.
- Katie and Nicola co-lead the Hub, working with schools to review their current social and emotional support and strengthen their Thrive practice.
- The Hub supports schools to progress towards becoming Thrive Ambassador Schools or Schools of Excellence, using the Ambassador framework as a practical roadmap.
- Katie and Nicola offer practical advice, share best practice and signpost schools to relevant Thrive training.
- Nicola is a certified Thrive Trainer and delivers sessions to colleagues across the borough, including Family Thrive training.
- The local authority has funded extensive Thrive training for schools, but budget pressures, staff turnover and capacity challenges mean some schools need support to rebuild momentum.
- The Hub helps schools assess current provision, identify gaps and revitalise their Thrive work in a way that reflects their own setting.
The Hub’s role is to go into schools, review their current social and emotional support, and help them embed Thrive so they can progress towards becoming Thrive Ambassador schools or Schools of Excellence themselves.
Katie Parks
Thrive Hub Co-Lead, Barking and Dagenham
FLEXIBLE SUPPORT FOR EVERY SETTING
Helping schools find their own way
The Hub’s approach is supportive rather than prescriptive.
Katie and Nicola work alongside schools, helping them understand where they are now and what they might need next. Each school is encouraged to adapt Thrive to suit its own pupils, staff and community.
Katie says this flexibility is essential: “Thrive looks different in every school. The theory and principles are the same, but the implementation must be tailored. The framework helps you personalise your approach, just like you would with individual pupils.”
For schools that have lost capacity or confidence over time, this support helps them reconnect with Thrive, rebuild practice and move forward at a pace that feels manageable.
Working beyond the classroom
The Hub provides direct support for children, young people and families.
As Thrive Hub Co-Lead, Nicola delivers Thrive sessions to children identified as being at risk of exclusion through primary and secondary panels. She also works with families through 12-week Family Thrive courses, helping build emotional resilience at home.
For Nicola, Family Thrive is a vital part of the model because it helps schools work with the whole family, not just the child. This creates more consistent support across home and school and helps emotional wellbeing extend beyond the classroom.
LEADERSHIP, FAMILY ENGAGEMENT AND SHARED PRACTICE
What schools can learn from the Hub
Katie and Nicola’s experience shows that successful Thrive implementation relies on strong leadership, flexibility and a whole-community approach.
Schools where leaders actively champion Thrive are more likely to create a culture where emotional wellbeing is embedded in everyday practice.
The Ambassador framework also gives schools a useful roadmap. It helps settings identify gaps, plan next steps and embed Thrive in a way that reflects their own context and pupil needs.
Family Thrive is another important part of the picture, helping schools work with parents and carers so emotional support is not limited to the classroom.
GROWING A LOCAL THRIVE NETWORK
Looking ahead
Katie and Nicola are continuing to grow the Thrive community of practice in Barking and Dagenham.
They are working with Thrive to establish local network meetings where Thrive Practitioners can come together, share insights and support each other.
The Borough’s commitment has been instrumental in enabling this work, and we’re excited about what the future holds.
Katie Parks
Thrive Hub Co-Lead, Barking and Dagenham
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