Social & Emotional Learning

What is the whole school focus for Social and Emotional Learning this term?

To support our students settle into their new learning environments we revisited growth mindsets and explored the difference between fixed mindsets and growth mindsets.  All our students from Foundation to Year 6 have created messages about how using a growth mindset helps us learn new things.  Here are some of our messages:

As a whole school we also revisited the vocabulary in the Zones of Regulation focusing on the emotions of worry and frustration.  The 2 – 6’s created Thinkboards to summarise what these emotions are, what they look like at school and at home and we then explored what strategies we could use to ‘flip our frustrations’ and ‘shrink our worries’.

Our topic starting this week is on problem solving.  We are learning to recognise that problems are a part of everyday life.  We will build on this learning to identify problems we encounter  in everyday scenarios and we’ll brainstorm possible options to try to find solutions to solve problems.

As children grow and develop, they will encounter situations where they feel worried, nervous and sometimes even scared. Individuals deal with the demands on them by drawing on a range of coping strategies. Some strategies are more productive than others. Helping students to learn a range of positive coping skills will allow them to develop and practise skills that will enable them to cope with future changes and challenges. 

 We will also focus on stress management. Stress is a normal part of life, especially as children get older. Children who cope better with life’s stressors develop good mental health and wellbeing. Assisting students  to recognise their personal signs and symptoms of stress and develop effective strategies will help them cope with challenges in the future.

Thanks, 

Sonia De Simone