The Connected Classroom

Building connected, compassionate and trauma-informed schools

At Thrive Education Partnership, we believe that children and young people thrive when they feel safe, connected and valued. Learning, wellbeing and belonging are deeply interconnected, and relationships are central to helping children and young people achieve their potential. Understanding behaviour as a communication, and the role of adults in creating safety and connection is an essential part of this.

The Connected Classroom is Thrive’s professional learning programme for developing compassionate, relational and trauma-informed practice across our schools. It brings together key ideas from neuroscience, trauma, attachment, co-regulation, mental health and compassion-focused approaches, and translates them into practical, everyday practice.

A shared approach across our schools

The Connected Classroom supports a consistent, relational approach across all roles and settings, strengthening both individual practice and whole-school culture.

It supports staff to:

• Understand the impact of trauma, stress and adversity on learning, behaviour and relationships
• Develop attachment-aware and trauma-informed practice
• Build confidence in co-regulation and relational responses
• Create emotionally safe environments where children can regulate and learn
• Support positive mental health and wellbeing
• Develop a shared language and understanding across teams
• Strengthen consistency across classrooms and school contexts

A structured professional learning pathway

The programme is designed as a sequenced learning journey, where each module builds on the last.

This allows staff to develop understanding over time and apply learning confidently in practice, supporting coherence and consistency across schools.

Rather than a series of standalone sessions, The Connected Classroom provides a shared framework for developing relational and trauma-informed practice across the Trust.

Who it is for

The Connected Classroom is designed for all staff – classroom-based and non-classroom-based - working across Thrive Education Partnership schools. A shared understanding of relational practice is most effective when it is held across all roles within a school community.

Our approach

Our work is grounded in compassionate, relational and trauma-informed practice. We are committed to creating environments where children and young people feel safe, valued and a sense of belonging, and are supported to be the best version of themselves.

The Connected Classroom reflects this commitment by focusing not only on what we do, but how we do it, placing relationships, connection and emotional safety at the centre of practice. As Dr Bruce Perry reminds us, ‘Relationships are the agents of change’.

Further information

The Connected Classroom is part of Thrive Education Partnership’s trust-wide professional learning offer for our schools. For further information on the programme and how to access it, please download the information guide below.