Thrive is playing a pivotal role in the Attendance Mentoring Pilot Expansion (AMPE) project, a major Department for Education initiative aimed at testing the impact of mentoring on reducing persistent absenteeism in schools across England.
Launched in October and led by Etio (formerly Tribal Group Education Services), the project will last for three-and-a-half years and involve 40 secondary schools in 10 areas across England: Nottingham, Walsall, West Somerset, Ipswich, Hastings, Blackpool, Norwich, Hartlepool, Portsmouth and Rochdale.
The project will recruit and train around 50 mentors to support 10,800 pupils who are missing between 10% and 50% of school time. The programme will evaluate the impact of mentoring on improving school attendance.
As part of the project, Thrive will provide expert training to the mentors, drawing on nearly 30 years of experience helping educators and organisations improve wellbeing, attendance, behaviour and learning outcomes. Mentors will train as Thrive Licensed Practitioners, equipping them with the skills to address the emotional and social barriers that often prevent young people from attending school.
Mentors will work to tackle the underlying causes of absenteeism through 12 weekly one-hour sessions, covering four phases:
- Establishing trust and identifying barriers to attendance.
- Setting goals and actions.
- Implementing action plans and forming a student support network.
- Planning for school reintegration and long-term self-reliance.
Thrive’s expertise will enable mentors to create nurturing environments that foster emotional resilience, positive relationships, and re-engagement with learning.
Thrive Commercial Director Tom Preston said: “We are delighted to be working with Etio to support the delivery of the Attendance Mentoring Pilot Expansion programme.
“By providing every Attendance Mentor with specialist training in the Thrive Approach, we will enable them to provide world-class support and care to pupils facing mental health challenges, with special educational needs and disabilities, and with complex home and family circumstances.
“Our hope is that this project demonstrates how, with the right specialist support, we can remove barriers to learning and get these young people back into school."
Etio Project Director Laura Bell added: “The attendance challenge is the result of multiple, intertwined factors such as student anxiety, student safety and disengagement, changes in parental work schedules, and cost-of-living pressures. These factors disproportionately affect those from disadvantaged backgrounds.
“This project is a 'mentoring-first' approach to address the national attendance challenge and we are pleased to be able to join forces with organisations including Thrive as we tackle one of the most urgent and pressing issues in education.”
For more information about the Attendance Mentoring Pilot Expansion project, visit https://info.etioglobal.org/etio-attendance-mentors-pilot-expansion-introduction.
To add a strategic partnership with Thrive to your funding bids, click here to schedule a conversation with Tom Preston.
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