About — Thrive Day School

About us

Thrive Day School started in 2018 at a small dance studio in South Charlotte out of a vision and a passion to help children with exceptional needs and their families.

Over the prior 18 years of teaching and directing at early childhood education centers, I had many students with exceptional learning needs. It was through those many experiences that I learned how to work with these precious little ones and their families. I began to hear a common theme from many of these families - how their preschooler was not getting the attention and early intervention that they needed in other typical learning environments. Convinced that there was a need for an exceptional children preschool in the Charlotte area, and out of a passion to help all children and families, I took a leap of faith and launched Thrive Day School with support from the church where I served and volunteered.

We opened our doors with just one student, but word quickly spread and more students joined over the next few months. Even in those first few months, we experienced first hand the joy of transformation as one of our non-verbal 3-year old students began to say his first few words.

In 2019, we moved to a location in South Charlotte where we could add more students and amazing staff. In the spring of 2020, we launched Thrive Home, a home school co-op for both typical and exceptional children from Kindergarten to the 8th grade.

In 2022, at the request of several families, Thrive launched operations in Rock Hill, South Carolina. Also in 2022, Thrive received a private school license where we operate at 3 campus locations around the Charlotte area - providing more children and their families with educational and developmental services. In 2023, Thrive moved to a new Charlotte location.

We are so very grateful for strategic and community partnerships that we have. We continue to explore opportunities to minister together. I am eternally grateful for the many individuals and organizations that support Thrive and I am constantly blessed by the amazing children whose lives we get to be a part of.

-Laura Scott, Founder Thrive Day School

Our Mission

Our mission at Thrive Day School is to focus on the development of the whole child by providing a quality education for preschool aged children. Our goal is to provide a learning environment that is purposely designed to foster each child’s intellectual, social, physical and moral development. We want to create a learning environment in which children and families will feel welcomed and comfortable.

“A Child is like a butterfly in the wind. Some fly higher than others, but each one flies as best as it can. Why compare one against the other? Each one is different. Each one is special. Each one is beautiful.”

— Unknown

Our Vision

Thrive Day School is a ministry of Christ Lutheran Church. The goal of this ministry is to create a school for children with exceptional needs. Thrive is designed to be a source of hope for families in our community. Our belief at Thrive Day School is that we can partner with parents, teachers and the community to create a environment where all children can learn and grow physically, emotionally, spiritually and academically.