Zones of Regulation

At Oldfield Brow, we aim to ensure that our children have the skills and attitudes to "thrive in a changing world" (School Vision, 2023) which means that we focus on our children's academic success alongside their mental health and wellbeing.

Part of our approach to achieving this vision for our pupils is based on developing our learners' self-regulation skills.

The Zones of Regulation is a concept to help our children develop skills in the area of self-regulation. Self-regulation can go by many names, such as self-control, self-management and impulse control. It is defined as the best state of alertness of both the body and emotions for a specific situation.

The 'Zones of Regulation' across the school. This approach is based on the use of four colours to help children self-identify how they’re feeling and categorise it based on colour. The children learn different strategies to cope and manage their emotions based on which colour zone they’re in. Additionally, the Zones of Regulation help children to recognise their own triggers, learn to read facial expressions, develop problem-solving skills, and become more attuned to how their actions affect other people.

At Oldfield Brow, we recognise the importance of promoting positive mental health and emotional well-being to our students and their families. We aim to create an open culture around the discussion of mental health and wellbeing and to empower our children to be able to regulate their emotions. By implementing the Zones of Regulation curriculum, we aim to teach our pupils to identify emotions in themselves and others and provide them with a bank of strategies to help regulate their emotions and improve their well-being.