At Oak Farm Primary School, we place pupils’ mental health and emotional wellbeing alongside their academic development. We want every child to feel safe, valued, listened to and that they belong within our school community.

The Zones of Regulation approach is used in every classroom at Oak Farm to help children understand and talk about their emotions. Pupils learn that feelings can be grouped into different ‘zones’ and develop strategies to help them recognise how they are feeling and what they may need to regulate themselves.

Zones of Regulation displays and resources are available in each classroom, giving children a consistent language for discussing emotions across the school. Adults use this approach to support pupils to identify their emotions, understand how these can affect their behaviour and learning, and choose appropriate strategies to help them feel ready to learn.

Importantly, we teach children that all emotions are valid. The aim is not to always be in one particular zone, but to develop the self-awareness and strategies needed to manage different emotions successfully.

Zones of regulation is one part of our wider PSHE curriculum.