SCiP Alliance Thriving Lives Toolkit: Implementation and Impact Evaluation

Primary and secondary schools responded positively to the Thriving Lives Toolkit, finding it to be a valuable resource which promoted auditing, action planning and development. All schools made progress on the principles, even when they had only been using it for a short time frame. Senior leadership support was important for facilitating this.

The progress made by schools started with appointing a named contact and typically involved making use of local and national support groups and evidence based resources to increase staff awareness and implement a range of interventions. Most often these were focused on making transition more effective but schools also spent time on improving wellbeing and attainment.

Schools perceived several outcomes as a consequence of this activity. School staff were more confident in supporting Service children and this had become a key activity in schools. Service children were perceived to have improved wellbeing and to be more engaged in school. Schools had improved relationships with Service families.
The findings suggest that the self-assessment process enabled schools to improve their provision - engaging with the Toolkit has facilitated activity, progress and positive outcomes for Service children.