Relationships and Behaviour

Trauma Informed Attachment Aware Schools

Cherry Oak School is currently engaged in the Trauma Informed Attachment Aware School (TIAAS) programme. This is a whole school development programme offered by Birmingham Educational Psychology Service and Virtual School. It focuses on changing practice within schools to develop universal approaches to promote the development and well being of all children and staff. At the heart of the TIAAS programme are the principles of: prioritising relationships in all that we do; recognising that a sense of safety is the foundation of all learning and exploration; seeing behaviour as communication; seeking to regulate before using reasoning and making space for reparation; recognising all emotions and offering empathy to all; and being curious about the experiences of families and what that means for them.

Emotion Coaching and the Zones of Regulation

What is Emotion Coaching?

Emotion coaching focuses on guiding children through their emotional experiences. At Cherry Oak School we use a variety of communication approaches to support our pupils understanding.

Elements of Emotion Coaching include:

Adults being attuned to the child's emotional states

Being engaged with the child in an empathetic way. This supports us to connect with the child, understand their needs and helps them to feel safe, secure and supported

Identifying emotions. Adults support the child to recognise and label their emotions

Problem Solving, identifying regulation tools and strategies. Adults support the child to problem solve and access tools and strategies with increasing independence

Setting limits. Children are supported to understand boundaries and are guided to appropriate responses to situations

The Zones of Regulation

We use the Zones of Regulation to help our pupils to understand and organise their feelings, levels of alertness and energy levels. 

There are four coloured Zones - Blue, Green, Yellow and Red. The simple colour system and language can help to make the complex skill of regulation more conrete for our children. 

Feelings in each Zone:

Blue Zone: sad, tired, bored and sick

Green Zone: focussed, happy, calm, proud

Yellow Zone: worried, excited, frustrated, distracted

Red Zone: angry, scared, in crisis

We recognise that all zones are ok. We can expreience a variety of zones during the day. It is important to acknowledge, accept and support these feelings. All our pupils are supported to access Zones of Regulation resources and regulation tools and strategies. 

Sensory Differences

We all process information from our senses, this helps us to make sense of the world around us. Some of our pupils have 'sensory differences.' This means that there may be variations or differences in how they perceive sensory information such as sight, sounds, smell, taste and touch. It can also affect their body awareness, balance and understanding of movement. 

Pupils can  respond differently e.g. they may over respond to certain sensations or they may under respond.

Over responding can make the sensory experience feel very intense and may lead to the child avoiding the expereince. This can be a reason why a child make dislike certain textures or be reluctant to move around. This can often trigger a feeling of over whelm and anxiety. 

Under responding can make the expreience difficult to notice or may lead the child to seek out more of the experience. This can be a reason why a child may not notice when they are dirty or seek out lots of movement, finding it difficult to sit. Self stimulatory seeking out behaviours are sometime referred to as 'stimming.' 

Every child is different, and for children that appear to have sensory differences we look at developing a sensory profile and diet. We also refer to Occupational Therapy for advice. 

At Cherry Oak School time is given to pupils that need it so that they can engage in sensory experiences that support their regulation. This supports pupils so that they are ready to learn. We also have a Sensory Circuit in the morning that provides opportunities for alerting, organising and calming activities. 

Relationships and positive behaviour management