Zones of Regulation

Introduction

The Zones of Regulation is an internationally renowned intervention which helps children to manage difficult emotions, known as 'self-regulation'.

Self-regulation is best described as the best state of alertness for a situation. For example, when your child takes part in a sports game, they would need to have a higher state of alertness than when, for example, they were working in a library. 

From time to time, all of us (including adults) find it hard to manage strong feelings such as worry, anger, restlessness, fear or tiredness, and this stops us from getting on with our day effectively. Children who feel these emotions often find it hard to learn and concentrate in school.

The Zones of Regulation aims to teach children strategies to help them cope with these feelings so they can get back to feeling calm and ready to learn. These coping strategies are called ‘self-regulation’.

We are using the Zones of Regulation throughout the school. We want to teach all our children good coping and regulation strategies so they can help themselves when they experience difficult situations in and out of school. Teaching them how to cope with these feelings might improve their ability to tackle learning challenges and build better resilience so they don’t give up so easily.

We want children at Oakridge to grow from successful children into successful teenagers then successful adults.  Teaching the children at a young age about managing their feelings will support them in later life so that they don’t turn to negative coping strategies which affect their mental and physical wellbeing.  The children will learn that everyone experiences all the Zones at one time or another and that no Zone is bad.  

We aim to help children to:

• Recognise which Zone they are in and learn how to change or stay in the Zone they are in.
• Increase their emotional vocabulary so they can explain how they are feeling.
• Recognise when other people are in different Zones, thus developing better empathy.
• Develop an insight into what might make them move into the different Zones.
• Understand that emotions, sensory experiences such as lack of sleep or hunger and their environment might influence which Zone they are in.
• Develop problem-solving skills and resilience
• Identify a range of calming and alerting strategies that support them, a ‘toolkit’.

What are the Different Zones

Blue Zone: low level of alertness; not ready to learn; feels sad, sick, tired, bored, moving slowly.

Green Zone: calm state of alertness; optimal level to learn; feels happy, calm, feeling okay, focused.

Yellow Zone: heightened state of alertness; elevated emotions; has some control; feels frustrated, worried, silly/wiggly, excited, 

Red Zone: heightened state of alertness and intense emotions; feels mad/angry, terrified, yelling/hitting, out of control.

We will be using the Zones language as part of daily school life so all staff will be referring to them, not just their class teacher.

We will teach the children that everyone experiences all of the Zones. The Red and Yellow zones are not ‘bad’ or ‘naughty’ Zones. All of the Zones are expected at one time or another.  We will show them that the Blue Zone, for example, is helpful when you are trying to fall asleep or that the Yellow Zone is a great place to be if you're going to a party or to play on the playground. 

Some children might prefer not to use the ‘Zones language’ but label the emotions directly – this is fine and encouraged!