Pupil Wellbeing

Pupil’s wellbeing is at the heart of everything that we do at Grace Mary. We know that children with high levels of wellbeing are better learners and are better prepared for adulthood. All children have set backs at some point in their lives and it how these are overcome that really matters.

At Grace Mary we are very lucky to have a team of experienced professionals on hand to support children in their daily lives. The support given to children is bespoke to their needs but may include some of the following strategies:

• Daily checks in on a child – to pick up and address any concerns before they become bigger worries.

• Completing ‘talking mats’ – giving a child an opportunity to categorise daily events into things they do and do not worry about which opens up conversations to enable strategies to be discussed.

• Time in rainbow room – to calm down or talk to an adult about any worries.

• Nurture – supporting children’s social development by teaching them social skills and strategies that will benefit them both in and out of the classroom.

• Play Therapy – supporting children who may struggle with expressing themselves or their emotions to express themselves through play with a trusted adult guiding them through in a safe environment.

• Mentoring – offering support and advice to children that need coaching through difficult tasks or situations.

• Drawing and Talking Therapy – helps support those individuals that have lived trauma, help them communicate this is a non-directive way and to help the brain process this to enable them to move forward.

• Emotion Coaching – helping children to understand their emotions by verbally acknowledging them, ensuring they feel ‘felt’ and teaching them more effective responses to enable them to calm down.

• Lego Therapy – helps children to improve their social interaction skills such as turn taking, listening, eye contact and problem solving with other children.

• Circle of Friends – to teach pupils social communication skills to interact, make and maintain friendships by developing a support network around individuals that are experiencing social difficulties.

• Young Carers referral

• Sign posting to outside agencies for support

If more specialised support is needed to support a child’s wellbeing and mental health then, with parental permission, referrals can be made to the necessary professionals e.g. Sandwell Inclusive Learning Services for Social, Emotional and Mental Health (SEMH) support in school, Children and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) or support for counselling.

The Rainbow Room is based in our Wellbeing Hub. Children are able to access Rainbows throughout the school day should they wish to discuss a worry or concern with a member of the Wellbeing Team.

At lunchtime children can access 'Chill & Chat' sessions, if children need 5 minutes to ‘chill’; need 5 minutes peace and quiet from the busy playground or just fancy playing games indoors they have the option to go to Chill and Chat where a member of staff is available to sit with them.

Zones of regulation

At Grace Mary we understand that emotions are complex and children can often find it difficult to understand, label and manage their emotions. As a school we have adopted an approach called ‘Zones of Regulation’. This approach categorises all the different ways children feel and the states of alertness they experience into four coloured zones: Blue, Green, Yellow, Red. The aim is for pupils to be ‘in the green zone’ ready to learn.

Pupils have been taught a variety of emotions, how their body will feel internally when they are experiencing these emotions, how this might look externally (to recognise it in others) and which ‘zone’ the emotion is categorised in.  

Children have been taught a range of strategies for each zone that support the body and mind to move into the green zone. They have also been taught that sometimes it is important and relevant to not be in the green zone e.g. it is useful to be in the blue zone at bed time to get to sleep.

Children who are well regulated are able to be in the appropriate zone at the appropriate time. We recognise that some children need an adult to support their regulation (co-regulation) and therefore adults are available for this throughout the day.

Our aims as a school are for:

1) children to be aware of their emotions and have strategies that they can use to regulate their emotions and

2) for all children to understand that experiencing a range of emotions is normal and it is how we respond to these that is important.

Years 1-6 have personalised regulation mats; mats that allow them to indicate the zone they are feeling in and strategies they’ve selected to help them ‘be in the green zone’. Pupils in Nursery, Reception and our Focus Provision pupils are having emotions modelled and labelled to them and being directed to strategies that staff who know them well think will help them (co-regulation). This is in preparation for them understanding their own emotions and developing strategies to independently implement when they are ready for this.

The resources that we use in school are available in the resource section of this page. Please use these at home if you think they will help your child to recognise and manage their emotions at home. Alternatively, please speak to a member of the wellbeing team if you would like support with this.