RILLINGTON Primary School

 Principle  2  - The Classroom offers a safe base

The classroom environment is inviting and nurturing for all. The classroom offers a balance of educational and social, emotional and mental health experiences aimed at supporting the development of children’s relationships with each other and with staff. Adults are reliable and consistent in their approach to children and make the important link between emotional containment and cognitive learning.

At Rillington Primary School we support the principle by :

• Every classroom has a visual timetable which sets out the daily routines of the day, in a way the children understand. The timetable is referred to throughout the day, as it acts as an anchor for children as their emotional state changes.
• Classroom environments are calm and welcoming and reflect the nurture principles.
• Every child and adult across school take part in the wellbeing check-in on a morning. This allows staff to identify children who feel dysregulated and unable to learn. All staff have developed strategies to enable children to communicate their emotions and can respond appropriately to their individual needs.
• A key familiar adult greets the children at the beginning of every day.
• Children identify their emotions using the zones of regulation. We can learn to use tools and strategies for our different zones in order to meet goals like doing school work or other tasks, managing big feelings and healthy relationships with others. In order to support the children with this, every classroom has a selection of regulation bags linked to the zones and a sensory area.

Principle  5  - Behaviour is a form of communication.

At Rillington At Rillington, the concept that all behaviour is a form of communication is deeply rooted in the approach we take when working with the children at Rillington Primary School. Staff spend time building strong trusting relationships, identifying individuals strengths and weaknesses, adapting our own responses and learning environment to meet the needs of the child and support them to express their needs and thoughts appropriately.

At Rillington Primary School we support the principle by:

• Children identify their emotions using the zones of regulation. We can learn to use tools and strategies for our different zones in order to meet goals like doing school work or other tasks, managing big feelings and healthy relationships with others. In order to support the children with this, every classroom has a selection of regulation bags.
• Every child and adult across school take part in a daily wellbeing check-in. This allows staff to identify children who feel dysregulated and unable to learn. All staff have developed strategies to enable children to communicate their emotions and can respond appropriately to their individual needs.
• The calm nurturing classroom offers a safe base with trusted adults, where they can freely express how they are feeling. The classroom has a range of resources to support the children in being able to self-regulate at times that they or the adult identify as difficult. The sensory area in each room offers a calm space where children can take time to gather their thoughts and feelings.
• At Rillington school we use restorative practice as part of our behaviour policy. This allows children to have a voice and take responsibility for their behaviour. We work together to reflect on behaviour, acknowledge that something wrong has happened and find solutions to move forward while maintaining strong mutual friendships with our peers.
• Children can be offered a specific intervention to support them in being able to identify how they are feeling. This could be any of the following;
• 1 to 1 sand story skills session
• Sensory session following a sensory diet
• Specific intervention to identify how a child feels and strategies to deal with strong feelings.
• Nurture baking/ craft session

Principle  3  - The importance of nurture for the development of wellbeing.

At Rillington we work extremely hard on building strong, trusting relationships with our children. We understand how to achieve the very best for the children in our class and make adaptions to the curriculum and learning environment to support the needs of every single child in our care. Children are taught how to manage their emotions and can identify when they need to ask for help or use a strategy for support.

 At Rillington Primary School we support the principle by:

• Every classroom has a visual timetable which sets out the daily routines of the day, in a way the children understand. The timetable is referred to throughout the day, as it acts as an anchor for children as their emotional state changes.
• Children are taught during PSHE lessons about mental health and wellbeing. They learn about the hand-brain model to give them an understanding of dysregulation and how the brain works.
• Every child and adult across school take part in a wellbeing check-in on a morning. This allows staff to identify children who feel dysregulated and are unable to learn. All staff have developed strategies to enable children to communicate their emotions and can respond appropriately to their individual needs.
• A key familiar adult greets the children at the beginning of every day, children arrive into a calm classroom.
• Children identify their emotions using the zones of regulation. We can learn to use tools and strategies for our different zones in order to meet goals like doing school work or other tasks, managing big feelings and healthy relationships with others. In order to support the children with this, every classroom has a selection of regulation bags.
• We use mistakes and setbacks as a normal and helpful part of the learning process, regardless of the subject. Admitting to our own mistakes is a great way of modelling this. Activities which have more than one right answer can help to promote different ways of thinking and provide opportunities for choice and control.
• School council express children’s views through a series of regular meetings with SLT.
• Every child in school has a Boxall profile, this is completed by the adult that knows them best. This assessment identifies any SEMH needs a child may have.

Principle 6  - The importance of transition in children’s lives.

At Rillington, adults understand that from the minute a child enters the school gates, life becomes a series of transitions that they then have to navigate without their familiar adult. Staff understand the impact that this can have on a child’s mental health and wellbeing and provide strategies and resources to support both parents and children in making transitions’ less stressful.

At Rillington Primary School we support the principle by:

• Staff reassure children and let them know what will happen each day. Children feel secure in knowing what is happening now and what is going to happen next. Systems are in place to let children and families know of any changes. Children use the visual timetables throughout the day to support them with changes that may happen.
• Towards the end of the summer term, children visit their new teacher and class. They spend time becoming familiar with their new environment and teacher, they fill in an ‘All about me’ sheet so teachers can begin to understand what the children like/dislike or struggle with within the classroom.
• In the summer term the year 6 children begin to have sessions to support their transition to Secondary school. We use the resource Smart moves which is based on the resilience framework.
• The sidewalk project offers our SEND children 1 to1 mentoring sessions to reduce stress and anxiety while transitioning to secondary school.
• Class teachers meet in the summer term to discuss the new children coming into their class. The class teacher fills out a child passport to discuss key points at the meeting.
• Stay and play sessions take place every week, for children age 18mths onwards. Parents and carers can bring their children to our Early years setting and spend time with staff. This allows both parents and children time to build relationships with other families from the community, members of staff and be familiar with the rules and routines of school life.
• Where possible, the children are greeted by the same person every day. This encourages the start of positive attachments and helps the child to feel more secure when entering the classroom.