In order for the children to explore
aspects such as friendship, responsibility and changing emotions, teachers will
provide regular group time for the children to share their feelings and ideas
within a climate of respect and trust.
Wellbeing 'Check-ins'
In Primary 1-7, all children evaluate themselves annually (in September) against each Wellbeing Indicator on the Wellbeing Wheel below.
In Primary 3-7, these children also complete a short self-evaluation survey - Pupil Attitudes to Self and School (PASS) in January. This is used to capture feelings about school and teachers, and can help to detect any possible barriers to learning, including issues around confidence, resilience, motivation, concentration, disaffection and alienation.
In Primary 1-7, all children are invited (in June) to provide any information that they would like their new teacher to know about them e.g., how they are feeling about moving onto a new Year Group.
Following each 'check in', staged intervention is employed for any children requiring it. This is a flexible, individualised, solution-focused approach that is tailored to support children and their individual circumstances.
In addition to the above, children will
experience certain topics through focused programmes of study. Please see below for the main content.
Emotional Vocabulary and Literacy (Terms 1-4)
Through weekly
lessons focusing on a wide range of words associated with feelings, we assist our
children in developing the ability to recognise, understand, take care of and appropriately
express their emotions.
By ‘talking and teaching’ through stories, activities and
games, we nurture, support and encourage our children’s emotional literacy so
that they can learn to express themselves appropriately. We also use emotional literacy to empower our
children and help them to develop deep respect and understanding of the emotions
of others.
Mindfulness (Terms 1-4)
Mindfulness is a powerful tool that
supports children in calming themselves, focusing their attention and
interacting effectively with others, which are all critical skills for effective
functioning in school and throughout life.
Incorporating mindfulness into
education has been linked to improved academic, social and emotional learning because
Mindfulness strengthens underlying developmental processes such as focus, self-regulation
and resilience.
Through regular Mindfulness sessions in the classroom, we aim
to make a positive difference to our children’s health and wellbeing.
My Passion (Term 1)
Every child will be given the opportunity to share (with their class and their teacher) the aspects of their lives that they are particularly passionate about. For example, traditions in their family, significance of their culture, people who are important to them and things they enjoy doing. This is a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the diversity in our school community.
My School Family (Term 1)
Through
a variety of engaging activities we aim to teach important personal, social and
emotional concepts as your child starts Primary 1. The class mascot is sent home with every child in the
class in order to help build their confidence as part of the transition process
and enable them to feel a sense of ownership in their new environment. The children also learn about all the people
in school who are there to help and care for them.
Looking After Myself (Term 3)
During
this topic we help the children to learn how to keep themselves safe in school,
online, in the home and whilst out and about.
The children will learn to name their body parts using the correct
scientific terms and begin to understand the notion of bodily autonomy, privacy
and consent. We also learn about the
emergency services and the people that can help your child ‘keep safe’. Many of the lessons detailed above are from
the national resource for relationships, sexual health and parenthood (RSHP)
for children aged 3-18 in Scotland.
As
part of this topic, parents support our learning about Road Safety by
assisting classes when they go out on their Traffic Trail.
Health Week (Term 3)
In
this week, through participating in a wide range of activities, the children
will learn all about how to keep their minds and bodies healthy. Through these experiences, they will discover
the important links between good health and wellbeing to effective learning.
NSPCC (Term 4)
The children take part in an annual NSPCC online assembly as part of the NSPCC's Speak out, Stay safe. programme. It aims to help children understand abuse in all its forms and to recognise the signs of abuse in a child friendly way. Children are taught to speak out if they are worried, either to a trusted adult or to Childline.