Northburn Primary School recognises that children who are aware of their own emotions and behaviour are better at self-regulating and are able to deploy coping skills. This self-regulation allows pupils to learn and practise social, emotional and learning skills and, as a direct result, children become more motivated and determined to succeed in their own learning.
What are The Zones of Regulation?
The Zones of Regulation are used to label the different ways we feel and states of alertness we experience. The Zones provide children with strategies to become more aware of their emotions, improve control of their emotions and impulses, manage their sensory needs, and improve their ability to problem solve conflicts. Once these strategies have been successfully developed and strengthened, they turn into essential life skills and help children to become motivated and determined to succeed.
Categorised into colours, the Zones help children recognise how they are feeling, and understand how to control their emotions and improve their ability to problem solve conflicts.
Blue: sad, tired, sick, or bored.
Green: happy, focused, content, or ready to learn.
Yellow: frustration, anxiety, excitement, silliness, the wiggles, or nervousness.
Red: anger, rage, explosive behaviour, or devastation.
Through discussion, your child will become familiar with the Zones and enable them to identify their feelings, recognise their level of alertness and control their behaviour. This essentially provides children with a toolkit that allows them to independently regulate their own emotions and behaviour, as well as develop skills such as identifying the impact of their behaviour on those around them.
Different emotions (which can sometimes be categorised into more than one Zone) maybe experienced at different points throughout the day by your child. All emotions in the Zones are natural and we endeavour to support your child in self-regulation. In using the Zones of Regulation framework, your child will learn to recognise and manage how they are feeling and how it affects those around them.
The Zones of Regulation framework dovetails with Northburn Primary School's Rewards and Behaviour Policy.