At St Matthias, we pride ourselves on teaching our children to be kind to themselves and to others. Children are made aware that disruptive and anti-social behaviour towards other children or adults is not tolerated and this includes all forms of bullying, swearing and discriminatory remarks. If children misbehave, consequences may include loss of privileges and, as far as possible, providing the child with the opportunity to put right the wrong that has been done. Equally, we celebrate positive choices and those who are exceptional role models. We will always try to work in partnership with parents and where necessary other agencies to support children, who may be experiencing difficulties.

• View our Stay On Green Leaflet
• View our Behaviour Policy

Zones of Regulation         

The Zones of Regulations creates a systematic approach to teaching emotional regulation. It does this by categorising all the different ways we feel into four coloured zones.

Zones of regulation teaches students how to:

• Identify their feeling 
• Understand their felling context 
• Effective regulation tools
• When and how to use tools
• Problem solve positive solutions 
• understand how their behaviours influence others’ thoughts and feelings

To ultimately move towards independent regulation.

There are 4 Zones: 

• The Blue Zone is used to describe low states of alertness and down feelings such as when one feels sad, tired, sick, or bored
• The Green Zone is used to describe a calm state of alertness. A person may be described as happy, focused, content, or ready to learn when in the Green Zone.  This is the zone where optimal learning occurs. 
• The Yellow Zone is also used to describe a heightened state of alertness and elevated emotions, however one has more control when they are in the Yellow Zone.  A person may be experiencing stress, frustration, anxiety, excitement, silliness, the wiggles, or nervousness when in the Yellow Zone. 
• The Red Zone is used to describe extremely heightened states of alertness and intense emotions.  A person may be elated or experiencing anger, rage, devastation, or terror when in the Red Zone. 

Tools (or strategies) can be different for every child so can be personalised accordingly. Some tools could be:

• breathing exercises
• taking a walk
• playing with a fiddle toy
• having a quiet space
• a cuddle 

Using this common language and having this clearly displayed in spaces enables there to be a common language around emotions and supports children to develop their emotional regulation skills. At St Matthias, we try our best to use this shared language in order to help children to regulate their emotions.