Safe Spaces, Supported Minds: Supporting emotional wellbeing in childhood
This practical on-demand course explores how environments shape children’s wellbeing, regulation and readiness to learn. Across two linked sessions, you’ll learn how to create environments that support safety, connection and thinking, helping children feel secure, build regulation skills and engage more fully in play and learning.
No previous Thrive training is needed.
Duration
Approx. 1 hour
Format
On demand
Access
90 days' access, for one delegate
Price
£50 + VAT
Safe Spaces, Supported Minds: Supporting emotional wellbeing in childhood
Overview
Children’s ability to regulate their emotions, build relationships and engage in learning is shaped not just by what we teach, but by the environments we create.
This course explores how everyday spaces and interactions influence children’s sense of safety and capacity to cope. Using Thrive’s developmental framework, you’ll examine three key environments that underpin wellbeing: physiological, relational and cognitive.
Across two practical sessions, you’ll explore how sensory experiences, routines, play, peer relationships and adult responses can shape children’s behaviour and emotional development. You’ll also build your understanding of executive functions and how these develop through everyday experiences in school.
Safe Spaces, Supported Minds: Supporting emotional wellbeing in childhood
Benefits
Build your understanding of children’s regulation and development, with practical ideas you can use across the school day.
- Deepen your understanding of how children develop regulation skills.
- Build confidence in recognising what sits beneath behaviour.
- Learn practical ways to support children in everyday moments.
- Understand the role of play, environment and relationships in development.
- Feel more equipped to respond with attunement, consistency and care.
- Create calmer, more supportive learning environments.
- Improve engagement, participation and behaviour.
- Reduce sensory and cognitive overload across the school day.
- Strengthen relational practice across staff teams.
- Support a shared, consistent approach to wellbeing and inclusion.
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Programme details
What you'll learn
Explore how environments, relationships and everyday experiences can support children’s regulation, wellbeing and learning.
You’ll explore:
- How the stress-regulation system develops in childhood, and why feeling safe is shaped by both relationships and environment.
- How sensory factors such as sound, light, movement and space can affect regulation, and practical ways to reduce environmental load.
- What a supportive relational environment looks like in a primary setting, including the role of adult presence, co-regulation and peer belonging.
- What executive functions are, how they show up across the school day, and the difference between ‘hot’ and ‘cool’ executive functioning.
- How play supports thinking, flexibility and regulation, alongside practical ways to reduce cognitive load and support learning.
How the course works
This one-hour on-demand course is delivered across two linked sessions, each building on the last.
Session 1 focuses on the physiological and relational environments, exploring how sensory experiences, routines, relationships and belonging shape children’s sense of safety and wellbeing.
Session 2 builds on this by exploring the cognitive environment, including executive functions and the role of play in development. You’ll also reflect on the adult’s role and how your own regulation shapes the emotional climate children experience.
The course is practical and reflective, helping you connect the learning directly to your own setting.
Safe Spaces, Supported Minds: Supporting emotional wellbeing in the early years
Who this course is for
This course is designed for professionals working with children aged 3–11 in primary, early years and specialist settings.
- Teachers and teaching assistants
- SENCOs and inclusion staff
- Pastoral and wellbeing leads
- Senior leaders
- Support staff
- Anyone working with children in primary-aged settings
“Creativity and play can give children the means to express their emotions far more articulately than through words.”
Viv Trask-Hall | Head of Theory and Practice at Thrive
on-demand learning
Start your course
Course fee: £50 + VATLearn at your own pace, with 90 days’ access from purchase.
- Approx. 1 hour
- Start straight away
- No previous Thrive training needed
No. You don’t need to be a Thrive School or have completed any previous Thrive training to take this course.
Each purchase gives one delegate access to the course. You can purchase places for as many team members as you need.
If you’re looking for broader whole-staff development, you can also explore our All Staff Training for Primary Schools. This is a separate, setting-facilitated offer with a choice of 3-hour units covering different themes.
Yes. It focuses on simple, realistic strategies that can be used immediately in classrooms and wider settings.
By focusing on regulation and development, the course helps you understand what may sit beneath behaviour and consider responses that support children’s development over time.
Yes. The strategies are inclusive and support a wide range of needs, including children with SEND.
No. This course does not count towards the annual Thrive CPD hours required to maintain your Licensed Practitioner status.