In our quest to provide a whole school nurturing approach, we are using the zones of regulation as a way of allowing our pupils to recognise their feelings. Each classroom uses a daily check in which gives the pupils an opportunity to think about and recognise how they are feeling at different stages of the day. The zones of regulation categorise our feelings into 4 distinct zones. ‘Moving slowly’,’Relaxed’,’Loss of control’ and ‘Out of control.’
We are committed to upskilling our pupils in devising a range of different strategies that work for them to help them regulate or feel ‘relaxed’. Once we have recognised what zone we are in, we can try a range of different strategies which the pupils have discussed in their classrooms.
Many of our classrooms have created calm spaces as areas for helping to regulate. From speaking to our children and finding out what helps them regulate, we were able to equip our classrooms with a range of resources which our children feel will help them regulate/feel calm. These include breathing balls (The Hoberman Sphere), theraputty, fidget toys.
We have also utilised spaces in our school which allow our pupils to take part in ‘exercise snacking.’ This gives opportunity for children to regulate through exercise in short bursts whenever they may need it, throughout the day. Check out some of our photos which show all our work in ensuring we provide a whole school nurturing approach.
