Emotional Wellbeing
Our curriculum and enrichment activities are intended to promote the development of the whole child which is reflected in our School mission. Emotional wellbeing is at the heart of all that we do here at Redhill.
https://redhill.ttsonline.net/page/mission
As part of this we have our ‘A Valued Me’ programme where throughout the year the following values are explored and celebrated Respect, Friendship, Responsibility, Empathy, Honesty and Independence.
https://redhill.ttsonline.net/page/smsc-valued-me.aspx
Emotional wellbeing is embedded into our curriculum in a variety of ways. Our PSHE curriculum offers opportunities for children to learn about wellbeing through our Jigsaw scheme of work (mindful approach to PSHE) by Jan Lever, which is designed as a whole school approach, providing a scheme of learning for Foundation Stage to Year 6. Jigsaw PSHE brings together Personal, Social, Health and Economic education, emotional literacy, social skills and spiritual development in a lesson-a-week programme. Each half term there is a focus: Being Me in My World, Celebrating Difference, Dreams and Goals, Healthy Me, Relationships, Changing Me. Each of these themes can be cross referenced to British Values too. The Calm Me session within each lesson enables children to learn techniques to use throughout their life and promotes mental well-being.
We work hard at Redhill to develop children’s Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural (SMSC) development through our A Valued Me programme, our work on British Values, and our charity and community work. Mindfulness and circle time activities are a regular feature of the children’s weekly timetable here at Redhill and we are fortunate enough to welcome many visitors into our school who focus on emotional wellbeing e.g. The Samaritans.
https://redhill.ttsonline.net/page/smsc
Through our work on e-safety, children discuss in depth their emotional wellbeing when working online. Every term, children complete a unit of work which revisits how to keep safe when using technology and the ways in which working online can affect our emotional wellbeing. Further information can be found here: Online Safety - Redhill Primary Academy (ttsonline.net)
Physical Education provides another opportunity for discussions around emotional wellbeing. Children are aware of the benefits an active lifestyle can have on emotional wellbeing and they take part in a range of sporting activities to support this. We also complete the daily mile in addition to the two hours of physical activity children receive in their weekly timetabled PE sessions.
For individual pupils who may require further support in this area, the school ensures that all staff members, who are providing any form of therapeutic support for students for social, emotional and mental health are appropriately supported and supervised. This will be ensured by the link with external specialist therapeutic agencies alongside access to school-based specialists.
Denise Rock is the School’s Emotional Health and Wellbeing Lead, she attends termly continuing professional development led by Future in Mind Telford & Wrekin – launched in 2016 by The Severn Teaching School Alliance, in partnership with Telford and Wrekin Council and Telford and Wrekin Clinical Commissioning Group, to develop such provision in schools. In turn, Denise Rock disseminates much of this training back at school to both teachers and teaching assistants.
Faye Bailey and Denise Rock are both qualified Youth Mental Health First Aiders, disseminating best practice and developing other staff members in supporting children with their mental health.
Denise Rock is a qualified Staff Mental Health First Aider facilitating provision to staff members.
Daphne Smith and Faye Bailey are qualified as a “Grief Recovery Specialists” certified by the Grief Recovery Institute, assisting pupils who need additional support when bereaved.
Faye Bailey and Denise Rock are qualified ELSAs – Emotional Literacy Support Assistants. Both of these staff also receive termly ELSA supervision, ran by Telford & Wrekin’s Educational Psychology service. This enables children who need support around discussing their emotions to have 1:1 sessions with our ELSAs.
Denise Rock also attends termly E2O meetings - Emotional Wellbeing to Outcomes, where a cross section of practitioners involved in the emotional wellbeing of young people in Telford come together to share good practice.
Zones of Regulation
At Redhill we teach all emotions are healthy, on a spectrum and are part of being a human, with a focus on developing skills to manage and express them so that children feel safe and understood. Our aim is to teach children about good coping and regulation strategies so they can understand and help themselves when they experience emotions, anxiety or stress. To support this ‘Zones of Regulation’ will be used within our classrooms and the wider school.
What is self-regulation?
Self-regulation can go by many names such as ‘emotional regulation’, ‘self-control’, ‘impulse management’ and ‘self-management’. Self-regulation is best described as the best state of alertness for a situation, or the ability to maintain a well-regulated emotional state to cope with everyday stress and to be most available for learning and interacting.
What are the Zones of Regulation?
Zones of Regulation is a self-regulation approach to help teach young people the ways we can categorise feelings and emotions into four coloured zones. The Zones framework provides strategies to help teach young people to become more aware of, and independent in, managing their emotions and impulses, managing their sensory needs, and improving their ability to problem solve conflicts.
The Zones in focus
The Red Zone is used to describe extremely heightened states of alertness and intense emotions. A person may be elated or experiencing anger, rage, devastation, or terror when in the Red Zone.
The Yellow Zone is also used to describe a heightened state of alertness and elevated emotions; however, one has more control when they are in the Yellow Zone. A person may be experiencing stress, frustration, anxiety, excitement, silliness, the wiggles, or nervousness when in the Yellow Zone.
The Green Zone is used to describe a calm state of alertness. A person may be described as happy, focused, content, or ready to learn when in the Green Zone. This is the zone where optimal learning occurs.
The Blue Zone is used to describe low states of alertness and down feelings such as when one feels sad, tired, sick, or bored
Everyone feels emotions or states within all of the zones, there is no ‘bad’ zone.
Why use Zones of Regulation?
Sometimes young people struggle to recognise their emotions, and especially the tools needed for self-regulation. Zones of Regulation is designed to help children recognise their emotions and how this influences their behaviour. As well as learning to understand how their behaviour impacts themselves and those around them, and learn what tools they can use to
manage their feelings and states.
How will Zones of Regulation be used at Redhill?
Zones of Regulation is implemented across school and visuals are displayed within the classrooms. Children and staff are encouraged to use Zones of Regulation vocabulary. For example, “This is really frustrating me and making me go into the Yellow Zone. I need to use a tool to calm down. I will take some deep breaths.” Children will discuss the Zones they are feeling, as well as developing toolkits to help with self-regulation. This ensures a consistent approach throughout the school community.
For additional services and support available to our community surrounding social, emotional and mental health please click the following link:
https://redhill.ttsonline.net/page/services-and-signposting-for-families
Although it is referenced in the link above please note, the link below. This is the mental health service directly for Telford:
https://www.telfordsend.org.uk/info/1/home/101/mental_health_service_directory
Also see our Emotional well being and mental health policies.
https://redhill.ttsonline.net/page/policies