Zones of Regulation

At Frizinghall Primary, we have a whole school approach to supporting the Social Emotional Learning of our pupils.  We use Zones of Regulation as a school wide strategy which helps children manage their emotions.  This is also known as self-regulation.

The zones provide a framework for our children to develop self-regulation. Children learn to identify emotions, recognise events that might make them move to a different zone and use the tools they have learnt to help them remain or move to a particular zone to help them regulate how they are feeling.

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’.

What are the different Zones?

Blue Zone: low level of arousal, not ready to learn, feels sad, sick, tired, bored

Green Zone: calm state of alertness, optimal level to learn, feels happy, calm, focused

Yellow Zone: heightened state of alertness, feels frustrated, worried, silly/wiggly, excited

Red Zone: heightened state of alertness and intense emotions, not an optimal level for learning, out of control, feels mad/angry, terrified, yelling/hitting, elated We 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.