At Yorkswood we are passionate about providing our children with life skills they can build upon in the future. In our school we choose to deliver Personal, Social, Health Education using Jigsaw, the mindful approach to PSHE. The Jigsaw scheme of work covers all the components of the Programme of Study and all aspects of Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE) in an age-appropriate way.

We aim to provide pupils with the knowledge, understanding, attitudes, values and skills they need in order to reach their potential as individuals and within the community.

Pupils are encouraged to take part in a wide range of activities and experiences across and beyond the curriculum, contributing fully to the life of their school and communities. In doing so they learn to recognise their own worth, work well with others and become increasingly responsible for their own learning. They reflect on their experiences and understand how they are developing personally and socially, tackling many of the spiritual, moral, social and cultural issues that are part of growing up.

They learn to understand and respect our common humanity; diversity and differences so that they can go on to form the effective, fulfilling relationships that are an essential part of life and learning.

Jigsaw PSHE will support the development of the skills, attitudes, values and behaviour, which enable pupils to:

•             Have a sense of purpose

•             Value self and others

•             Form relationships

•             Make and act on informed decisions

•             Communicate effectively

•             Work with others

•             Respond to challenge

•             Be an active partner in their own learning

•             Be active citizens within the local community

•             Explore issues related to living in a democratic society

•             Become healthy and fulfilled individuals

Mental Health and Well-being

SMILE

At Yorkswood, we follow and incorporate SMILE into our every day curriculum to promote positive mental health and wellbeing. SMILE is a Wellbeing approach which was created by Forest Oak School to support the emotional health and wellbeing of the whole school community. The acronym SMILE was created by adapting the NHS 5 ways to wellbeing. As part of our curriculum, we build in opportunities for the children to practice these 5 ways to wellbeing in the following ways:

S – Socialise : connecting with others

M – Move: being active

I – Interest: Taking notice and being mindful

L – Learn: Keep learning

E – Engage: Giving to others.

At Yorkswood, we work together to develop individual coping strategies to help and support our wellbeing. The activities the children and staff think of for each area form part of a toolkit which will become the tools we use to support us with our mental well-being.

We recognise that each individual may have different coping strategies and emphasize that we all enjoy and respond to activities and strategies in different ways, so our individual toolkits will be unique toolkits.

Zones of Regulation: 

At Yorkswood, we have implemented an approach known as The Zones of Regulation which actively encourages and supports children to regulate their emotions and actions. Using four different colours, the approach is designed to help students to self-identify how they are feeling. The four zones are:

The Blue Zone (Running Slow)- Your body is running slow and you are feeling low and blue. You may be feeling sad, sick, tired or bored.

The Green Zone (Good to Go) – Just like a green traffic light, this zone describes when you are ‘Good to Go!’. If you are in the green zone, you may feel happy, calm, focussed and ready to learn.

The Yellow Zone (Caution) – When you are in the yellow zone, you approach with caution. This describes when you start to lose control such as when you are frustrated, overwhelmed, silly, wiggly, giggly, excited, worried, anxious or surprised.

The Red Zone (STOP!) – The Red Zone describes our extreme emotions such as terror, anger, aggression and elation. When you are in the Red zone, you may feel ‘Out of Control, have trouble making good decisions and you may need to STOP! And regulate.

The curriculum supports children to recognise and better understand their emotions, thoughts and feelings. Additionally, a ‘toolkit’ is created so that children have a range of techniques and strategies to support them when moving throughout the different zones.