We all know children can behave very differently in school to how they do at home. We just want to give you a little helping hand with a few strategies we use in school.
When children are talking about their emotions, we try to use the zones to help them identify how they are feeling. Once children are able to this, we can discuss that no emotion is a bad emotion but that we need strategies to deal with these emotions to help us stay in the green zone.
Once children can identify emotions, we can create a toolkit to help us remain in the green zone.
Within this toolkit, children can think of strategies they can use. This might include some of the following –
Introducing “Size of the Problem” at the primary level is a great way to help children problem solve independently and strengthen social skills. As students learn to identify emotions in themselves and others, it is a good idea to start the conversation about how we respond to situations when we are upset. Sometimes students have difficulty determining the appropriate response to big and small problems especially if they’ve had big reactions modelled for them for all types of problems.
Asking if it is a “big deal” or a “small deal” is a good start in getting students to think of the size of an issue or conflict.
Size of the Problem helps students identify the appropriate reaction to match the severity of a problem. When students have a common language to describe their problems and reactions, they can better identify solutions.
SUAT supports and leads in the set-up of new academies joining the partnership. The services provided by the central support function cover both educational and non-educational support. In terms of educational support, SUAT is linked to the School of Education of Staffordshire University, which is an outstanding ITT provider.