Restorative Practices

Language Matters

This term we continue our partnership with Real Schools as part of our three year journey to strengthen partnerships, create caring students and connected communities .This has involved regular, ongoing professional development for our staff to support student engagement and wellbeing. 

Already our students have responded well to the small but significant changes within our classrooms. Through our committed staff, our students have explored the power of words, particularly focussing on affective language, or the language of our emotions. Junior students have been moving beyond feeling “happy” or “sad” and exploring words such as “joyous” and “melancholy.” Alongside this, students have been learning about the power of emotions within their body and have worked through choosing strategies to help them regulate their emotions, thanks to supports such as the zones of regulation. This language is applied daily in classroom check in circles which have become an embedded part of our morning routines. This language has been powerful in our students expressing themselves and providing them with an understanding of how other people feel. 

You might like to try a game of affective tennis with your child (it’s a great game for trips in the car.)

Player one serves an affective word at their opponent, e.g. “happy”

Player two returns the serve with another affective word, e.g. “frustrated”

Players keep hitting words back and forth to each other like a verbal tennis rally.

Rules:

You can’t play the same word twice

If one player can’t think of a word within three seconds, it’s a point to their opponent.