The Zones of Regulation

Last year, The Gateway introduced the use of The Zones of Regulation as a part of our approach to personal development for our pupils. We chose to embed this curriculum alongside our weekly PSHE Jigsaw lessons, online safety work and whole school assemblies as we felt was is a valuable way to further develop our pupils’ emotional language and understanding.

The Zones of Regulation curriculum are lessons and activities designed by Leah Kuypers (an occupational therapist) to help children develop their self-regulation skills. Self-regulation can go by many names, such as: self-control and self-management. Research shows that children who are able to effectively manage their emotions are generally more able to manage themselves as learners which complements our whole school approach to ‘Building Learning Power’ which aims to develop key learning skills/muscles.   

The Zones of Regulation is defined as the best state of alertness of both the body and emotion, for the specific situation. For example, when a child plays on the playground or in a competitive game, it is beneficial to have a higher state of alertness but this state of alertness could be a challenge in a library or in quiet reading!

The lessons and activities are designed to help pupils recognise when they are in the different Zones as well as learn how to use strategies to change or stay in the Zone they are in. In addition to addressing self-regulation, pupils will gain:

• an increased vocabulary of emotional terms
• skills in reading other people’s facial expressions
• an understanding of other people’s perspectives and how they feel
• insight into events that trigger their feelings
• calming and alerting strategies
• problem solving skills

The Zones of Regulation is taught through 10 key concepts (see below). We have chosen as a school to use a spiral approach to teaching the concepts alongside our Jigsaw curriculum meaning that every child will be taught every concept every year at an age-appropriate level and learn about the concepts from a different angle each time.

Please note Swans, Herons and Kingfishers will be introduced to the Zones through the following stories:

A critical aspect of this curriculum is that all those supporting the children know and understand The Zones language (see glossary pages 3 – 5). This constantly reinforces key concepts and enables children to regularly practice their self-regulation skills. It also helps pupils to learn the skills more quickly and be more likely to apply them in many situations. You can support your child at home by doing the following:

• Use the language (see glossary below) and talk about the concepts of The Zones as they apply to you in a variety of environments so that your child understands it is natural that we all experience the different Zones and use strategies to control (or regulate) ourselves. For example, “This is really frustrating me and making me go into the Yellow Zone. I need to use a tool to calm down. I will take some deep breaths.”
• Help your child to gain awareness of their Zones and feelings by pointing out your observations.
• Validate what Zone your child is in and help them to find ways to effectively manage their response to being in that Zone
• Help your child to understand that all Zones/emotions are okay but not all behaviour responses are
• Share with your child how their Zones and behaviour can affect others
• Help your child become comfortable using the language to communicate their feelings and needs by encouraging them to share their Zone with you.

These are the visuals we are going to be using as a school to introduce the Zones.

In Term 5, we will be introducing Concept 1: What is Regulation in a whole school assembly and in one of our class Jigsaw lessons. Further information about this concept including vocabulary and visuals used will be provided in our termly Jigsaw overviews,

We hope you have found this information about Zones of Regulation helpful. Any questions please contact the school on office@gateway-pri.kent.sch.uk

Kind regards, Mr Cassem and Miss Warner

Zones of Regulation

Concept Glossary