Emotions for Learning (E4L)

What is the E4L Curriculum

E4L stands for Emotions for Learning.  The E4L curriculum is a carefully designed curriculum which teaches social and emotional skills.   It has been designed to meet the social and emotional needs of your children.  It supports mental health, equips children with emotional literacy and helps children learn how to form good relationships.  Although we have discrete E4L lessons, E4L is also part of the core ethos of our school and integral to everything we do.  It supports behaviour, learning and attitudes.  It dovetails our behaviour curriculum and our therapeutic approach to behaviour.

Why we believe in E4L

E4L helps children to better understand and identify their emotions; develop empathy, increase emotional regulation and manage stress.  We want children to leave us with the skills be successful academically, in life and in the work place.  It teaches the children how to manage their wellbeing, encouraging them to work as a ‘Team’, they learn the importance of community and it supports them to be emotionally literate, well-rounded individuals which will help them to find future success.

The E4L lessons are not designed to stand on their own. They are designed to work together with the E4L Core Teachings and the E4L Teaching Approaches. Whereas the Core Teachings and Teaching Approaches foster the development of attachment, emotional regulation and self-organisation through implicit learning, the E4L lessons teach these skills explicitly, in an exploratory, experiential and embodied way. In E4L lessons we teach children to build attachments, develop emotional regulation and self-organisation and you teach metacognition by encouraging them to think consciously about thinking, learning and problem solving.

Lesson Plans

The E4L Curriculum has lesson plans for children of eighteen months to eleven years old. For the younger children there are short lessons, designed to be run as part of continuous provision or in small groups as and when during the day. For the older children, more time is given to each lesson to allow for rich discussion and reflection.  Because of the iterative nature of the curriculum, it is important that all E4L lessons are taught over the academic year and therefore, it is essential to put the lessons into the timetable. It is also possible to group lessons to use as interventions. For example, if a group of children need more support to identify feelings then the ‘Feelings’ lesson plans from other year groups can be grouped to create a short program of lessons.

How we Implement E4L

All of these core themes occur throughout the school day, not just in E4L lessons.

Listening with Heart: By tuning in to ourselves, and the body language and thoughts and feelings of the person we are listening to, we can create a safe, calm space in which to practise the art of deep listening. We teach the children to look at the speaker, face their body towards them and listen, nod, make appreciative noises and try not to comment in the middle of a story.  When children learn to listen, they develop better relationships and become independent problem solvers.  It is a really important life skill.

Stilling: Children regularly take time for ‘Stilling’ - guided visualisations to encourage children to tune in to themselves in a safe and relaxing space. They give children the quiet time and space they need for the unconscious processing of the day’s experiences.  We find ‘Stillings’ work well after lunch as they give children time to slow their bodies and minds down ready for learning.

Dialoguing: Through dialogue teachers lead children through a process of ‘connect, explore, act’ to help them to problem solve for themselves rather than having teachers give answers. We connect first so that children know we understand what they are feeling and going through; we ask open questions to help them explore the underlying reasons for the problem; and we help them form their own plan for how to change the situation and restore things where needed.   This is also an integral part of our behaviour policy.

Complimenting: Children learn about themselves in the first instance when others tune in to them and feedback what they see. Throughout the school day, our teachers spontaneously model complimenting by mirroring aspects of children’s behaviour and personal characteristics. The regular use of compliments encourages children to take in a positive image of themselves and appreciate the good in others. It also creates an atmosphere of mutual care and generosity in the school community.

E4L training for parents: Twice a year parents are invited to attend E4L training to learn about the E4L curriculum, and gain an understanding of the practices and terminology. We also send regular App messages so you can see what is happening with E4L and talk to your children about it. 

What has the Impact of E4L been?

• Children are learning to form better relationships with peers and adults
• Children are showing more independence in solving their own problems
• Children are naming and describing their emotions and thinking about what impact their emotions have
• Children are showing self-awareness and confidence
• Children are learning strategies to manage their emotional and mental wellbeing
   

As teachers and educators, we can’t change the circumstances that our children face.  However, E4L has helped the children learn how to cope with them better.  It has also taught them to think about whether the circumstance is ok and what to do if it isn’t.

Supplemented PSHCE Curriculum

RSE

We have some units of the curriculum that fall outside of our E4L curriculum.  This includes Relationships and Sex Education in the spring term.  Please see the progression document for this below.  We have a policy that outlines our Relationship Education.  This is consulted on approximately every 3 years. 

Right to Withdraw from Relationship and Sex Education

You cannot withdraw your child from Relationships Education because it is important that all children receive this content, covering topics such as friendships and how to stay safe. We have chosen to teach Sex Education. If you’d like to know more about this, please see the copy of the PowerPoint shared at our parent briefing below, the progression document (above) and our RSE Policy, the link is below.  If you have any questions or concerns please speak to the your child’s class teacher. If you do not want your child to take part in some or all of the lessons on Sex Education, you can ask that they are withdrawn. At primary level, the head teacher must grant this request. The science curriculum in all maintained schools also includes content on human development, including reproduction, which there is no right to withdraw from. The only part you can withdraw your child from is the lessons in year 5 and 6 about how a (human) baby is conceived and born.

Other Non-Statutory Units

We have also written some units that are not statutory but we feel are important to teach.  This includes an anti-racism unit and a road and rail safety unit. 

We introduced our anti-racism unit because we felt it was important to explicitly teach children what racism is and how to prevent it.  Alongside the unit we promote diversity throughout all aspects of the curriculum by looking at famous role models, learning about different cultures and religions and reading a range of books which teach about the protected characteristics.

The road and rail safety unit has been added as we feel these are life skills that the children need.

Some year groups have enrichment sessions including mindfulness, ‘Bikeability’ and ‘Mini Medics’ which also supplement our E4L curriculum.