Zones of Regulation
'Life is 10% what happens to us and 90% how we react to it.' Charles Sindall
Promoting positive mental health and emotional wellbeing for our children is a priority for us all at Buckingham Primary School. We aim to create an open culture around the discussion of mental health and wellbeing and empower our children to understand and be able to regulate their emotions. We have implemented the Zones of Regulation to help them identify emotions in themselves and others and provide them with strategies to help them regulate their emotions and improve their wellbeing.
The Zones of Regulation is a range of activities to help children develop skills in the area of self-regulation. It is defined as the best state of alertness of both the body and emotions for the specific situation. For example, when a child plays a tag rugby game it is beneficial to have a high state of alertness. However, that same state would not be required in the library.
From time to time, all of us (including adults) find it hard to manage strong feelings such as worry, anger, restlessness, fear or tiredness, and this stops us from getting on with our day effectively. Children who feel these emotions often find it hard to learn and concentrate in school. The Zones of Regulation aims to teach children strategies to help them cope with these feelings so they can get back to feeling calm and ready to learn. These coping strategies are called ‘self-regulation’.
Zones of Regulation is based around the use of four colours to help children self-identify how they are feeling and categorise it based on colour. It also helps them better understand their emotions, sensory needs and thinking patterns. The children learn different strategies to cope and manage their emotions based on which colour zone they are in. It also helps them recognise their own triggers and become more attuned to how their actions affect other people.
Zones of Regulation
