Student  Wellbeing 

Mental Health in Schools

At the School of the Good Shepherd we value teaching students about Emotional intelligence because emotional regulation is a pre-cursor to cognitive function. This means that children learn best when they are in control of their thoughts and emotions, and research has proven that children do not learn at all if they are dysregulated by strong feelings of anger, sadness or fear.

We have a number of Social and Emotional (SEL) programs to support students' development of their emotional intelligence. The Zones of Regulation model is accessed to teach students social and emotional skills. Posters of this model are displayed in every classroom. 

Five key benefits of developing Emotional Intelligence

WHAT IS THE 'ZONES OF REGULATION?' 

Leah Kuypers in 2011

The Zones of Regulation teaches students how to identify and regulate their feelings, energy and sensory needs and draw on a variety of strategies to meet the demands of the situations around them and be socially successful.  

The curriculum based framework uses four colors—blue, green, yellow, and red—to help students identify their feelings and levels of alertness. 

Students develop the skills to identify which zone they are in by identifying their body signals, detecting triggers, reading social contexts, and considering how their behaviors impact those around them, leading towards improved emotional control, sensory regulation, self-awareness, and problem-solving skills.

The Zones is a versatile and handy visual chart used to guide Teacher/Student conversations. We have found many parents valuing our use of this model and have requested copies of their child’s classroom zones chart, to use at home. 

Instructions to create a Zones Check-In for Your Home

With this in mind, I have attached the following link for families to create their own Zones Check in chart. If you do create your own family Zones chart, please feel free to share it with me or your child’s classroom teacher. We would love to see your creativity shine and this valuable tool being accessed at home as well.

Students from Year 3-6 are also encouraged to create an individual ‘Ready to Learn Plan’ aligned with each zone.  Ready to Learn plans(see image below) support students to break down and identify their own feelings, behaviours and strategies within each zone. Plans are then used to support students when issues arise with behaviours which compromise our school rules or when students are experiencing heightened emotions in any of the zones. 

On Tuesday March 21st, SoGS community celebrated Harmony day.  The theme for Harmony day this year was: 'We all Belong' which fits beautifully into SoGS Gospel value of Belonging. This day reminds us to appreciate everyone, regardless of their background or circumstances and to embrace community participation, inclusiveness, celebrating diversity, respect and belonging.

It was wonderful to see the ‘sea’ of Orange created by the ‘splash’ of orange worn by our staff and students. All students were engaged in lessons throughout the day, focussed around cultural diversity. 

I include an image below of the stunning beauty of God’s hand which painted the morning sky of Harmony day 2023. Too beautiful not to share with you all!

School of The Good Shepherd is a ‘Zero Bullying’ school. The following is provided to offer clarification around  what bullying is and isn’t. 

It is aimed to provide information that will benefit conversations if your child advises you of disagreements that may occur from time to time.

At SoGS, we use Restorative Practices, Zones of Regulation and Positive Behaviour Management methods to work through incidents that occur. 

Students are supported to be Upstanders not Bystanders and are encouraged to speak to a teacher ASAP, if they witness or experience any behaviours that compromise our school rules and fall into the following category of bullying.

We encourage all families to please contact the school if your child reports any incidents impacting them, so that we can troubleshoot in a timely and respectful manner.