Developing emotional literacy

Objective

Infant school staff wanted to give every child the tools to express their feelings and understand how others might feel. They aimed to help pupils build their own self-regulation toolkits.

Actions

Therapeutic Thinking tutors attended a one-day training session on the Principles of Emotional Literacy. After the training, they made several changes across the school.

• They set up Emotion Stations in every classroom so children could “check in” with how they were feeling throughout the day. This helped staff respond to children’s emotional needs. These stations linked to the Zones of Regulation, which the school had already introduced.
• Staff ran focused sessions to help children build their own self-regulation toolkits.
• In Nursery, they added a mirror and visual feelings cards. Adults used role modelling to show and talk about feelings and how to manage them.
• Every classroom got a Calm Corner with visual prompts, mindfulness activities and tools like fidget items to help children focus.
• To grow emotional vocabulary, staff introduced an Emotion of the Week. They shared this in assemblies using stories, songs, and discussions. Children explored what the emotion might look like, how it feels (including physical signs) and related words.

Staff also shared mental health and wellbeing resources with parents and carers to help create consistency between home and school.

Impact

Staff noticed that the Emotion Stations helped reduce the time spent managing playtime incidents. Children were better able to express their feelings and talk to adults using the tools and strategies they had learned.

Pupil comments:

"We do it every day quite a few times. We put our name  in a pot to show how we are feeling. Adults check and tip them out."

"If you are feeling happy you put your counter in the green pot."

"If you are in the red zone, you could rip up paper or scribble or you might want to fiddle with something."

Staff note that children are beginning to use a wider emotional vocabulary.

Pupil comment:

"My favourite word is delighted."

After using the mirror and identifying they felt angry, a child in Nursery asked the adult what they do when they are angry and this allowed an opportunity for the adult to model and explore this further.

Staff feel that pupils are able to talk about how they are feeling and what might help them to regulate and how peers might be feeling.

Pupil comments:

"When I am angry I play with the Simple Dimples or a stress ball, you can move them around and they help you calm."

"People might hit because other people might have made them angry."

"The best bit is the calm corner. There are fiddle toys if you are feeling upset, you can play with them. My favourite are the Poppits."

A parent reported that their child used the breathing techniques learned at school whilst in the car.

Another advised it has changed her understanding of how her children may be feeling and why, and as a result her approach.

Next steps

Staff plan to continue to communicate the approach with parents through newsletters and workshops.