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Tips
- Provide opportunities for a daily check-in with a key adult or team of adults. Allow the young person to engage with an assigned ’job or task’ of responsibility to reduce feelings of anxiety.
- Ensure access to safe spaces or calm areas for pupils to access within the setting during times when they feel overwhelmed or anxious.
- Teach self-calming techniques, such as breathing, visualisation or repetitive, soothing or calming activities and positive mindfulness techniques, such as gratitude diaries ideas. Twinkl has a My Gratitude Diary.
- Have regular check-in opportunities once a week or once a fortnight. Remember the research on One Good Adult.
- Engage parents, carers and families to participate, particularly those of pupils in difficulties whose families may be hard to reach. Learning Ladders has tips on engaging hard-to-reach parents with your school.
- Engage early: Identify what is not working well through engagement with the child or young person as early as possible.
- Understand any triggers: Unpick the behaviour and consider if this is due to communication needs, social requirements, emotional and mental health needs, homelife, etc.
- Check in regularly: Have regular check-in opportunities with the student once a week or once a fortnight to establish a good relationship and ensure there is a clear communication pathway.
- Identify transition periods and support needs: Engage the young person in discussion about any unfamiliar environment and change in support. The young person can take photos or produce a scrapbook of any new setting. This can often aid discussion at school, home, open days, and events.
- Provide access to safe spaces: Ensure access to safe spaces or calm areas for pupils to access within the setting during times when they feel overwhelmed or anxious.
- Teach self-calming techniques: Self-calming techniques can be supportive for students, including breathing techniques or calming activities, and positive mindfulness techniques, such as gratitude diaries ideas. Twinkl has a My Gratitude Diary.
- Engage parents, carers, and families to participate: Engaging with families, particularly those of pupils in difficulties whose families may be hard to reach, may help parents and carers to develop additional techniques and approaches to help student's manager behaviour more effectively. Learning Ladders has tips on engaging hard-to-reach parents with your school.
- Involve the whole school community in well-being: Schools that involve the whole school community in developing a culture of wellbeing see the greatest benefits. Anna Freud has produced a 5 Steps to Mental Health and Wellbeing evidence-based framework to help you develop a whole-school or college approach to mental health.
