Well-being is at the heart of everything we do at Liberty Woodland School. Not only are high levels of well-being an important part of feeling happy, secure and fulfilled, they are also a critical component in the pursuit of high quality learning. High levels of well-being allow a child to be fully present and prepared to learn.
We start our days with a focus on well-being through our morning meetings. Before any other aspect of our school day it is important to come together as a class, to centre ourselves, to let go of any issues we have brought in from home and to support ourselves to mindfully regulate to the green zone of self-regulation.
Each month we have a focus of well-being followed by the whole school, for example mindfulness, growth mindset, self-regulation, meditation, learning pits, positive social interactions, benefits of an attitude of gratitude and much more. These are explicitly taught within morning meetings with opportunities to practice the skills offered throughout our days.
Mental health is openly discussed and children are provided with the vocabulary and lack of stigma to openly discuss mental health alongside the tools to achieve positive mental health.
We follow as a whole school the approach of Zones of Regulation, a framework designed to foster self-regulation and emotional control. Our zones of regulation are constantly and consistently threaded throughout every aspect of our day, developing a metacognitive pathway for children to build awareness of their feelings/internal state and individually utilise a variety of tools and strategies for regulation, prosocial skills, self-care, and overall wellness.
Our high focus on developing emotional intelligence and high levels of mental, emotional and physical well-being ensures our children not only maintain positive mental health, physical development and emotional health, but crucially that they understand the value of these.