Emotion Coaching
Our school is an Emotion Coaching Accredited Organisation
Parent and Carer Emotion Coaching Sessions
In January 2023, we held our first courses for parents and carers in Emotion Coaching. Parents were invited into school during four afternoon sessions and learnt about the four stages of Emotion Coaching. Parents had the opportunity to share their stories and learn together about how children's brains develop and how we can support our children to manage their emotions and self-regulate.
Feedback from parents:
"I would definitely recommend this course to other parents."
"It helped me to understand emotions differently. I now know how to help my child and when to stand back."
"I felt very comfortable sharing my experiences with others."
"Great sessions delivered in a relaxed and comfortable environment. Lots of useful advice and tips."
"I now have an excellent understanding of the four stages of Emotion Coaching."
What is Emotion Coaching?
Emotion Coaching is a way of communicating with children when they are experiencing innate feelings such as fear, anger or sadness.
All staff at Frenchwood, from welfare staff to senior leaders, are trained in using Emotion Coaching to ensure there is a consistent approach for working with children to help them understand their emotions and self-regulate.
Mrs Bidwell (LKS2) is the Lead Practitioner for our school alongside Mrs Ibitoye (EYFS) and Mrs Patel (UKS2), all of whom attended two day Emotion Coaching Training sessions. Whole School training continues to be delivered regularly across the school so that all staff are familiar with the Emotion Coaching approach. As a staff team, we learnt about the Neuroscience behind Emotion Coaching and how children’s brains develop as they mature into young adults. We are able to appreciate that children need secure attachments and positive relationships with adults in school; indeed, good relationships are at the heart of secure, happy children.
Key Elements are involved in Emotion Coaching:
- Becoming aware of the child's emotions
- Recognising the emotion as an opportunity for building relationships and teaching
- Listening empathetically, validating the child's feelings
- Helping the child find words to label the emotion
- Setting limits for what is acceptable behaviour
- Exploring strategies to solve the problem at hand.
Across school, each class now has its own Regulation Station – a place where children can go to calm down and self-regulate – when they feel frustrated, upset or just a bit out of sorts. Children also learn about ‘the Zones of Regulation’ and use four colours (red, blue, yellow and green) to help describe their emotions. The emphasis is always on using and choosing strategies to help children move ‘back into the green’ where they feel contented and ready to learn.
We strive to enable all children in our school family to be emotionally intelligent and self-aware. When children are able to identify their feelings, they are in a better position to choose how to respond.
Inappropriate behaviours are not condoned in Emotion Coaching and when the child is calmer, incidents are discussed in a more rational and productive manner. The child is supported to problem solve and engage in solution-focused strategies.
Emotion Coaching seeks to lead children towards high self-esteem and self-discipline. Consequently, good discipline arises from positive relationships. We believe that self-esteem affects all thinking and behaviour and impacts on learning and performance.