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St. Peter's Primary School, Plumbridge, Omagh
 

PATHS

 
 
 
 

At St Peter’s Primary we have been teaching PATHS since 2015 in each class.

What is PATHS?

PATHS is a programme of lessons and strategies that helps children manage their emotions, communicate effectively and problem solve independently.

It takes a holistic approach to include all children, families and staff are involved.

PATHS is a research based programme grounded in the science of children’s brain development. It uses progressive schemes of work, engaging resources and diverse activities to establish a positive classroom.

PATHS helps children with…

  • Self-esteem, self-confidence and self-control
  • Frustration & anger management
  • Attention and concentration
  • Thinking before they act out in anger
  • Emotional understanding
  • Expressing their feelings in a positive way
  • Understanding that all feelings are okay, but some behaviours are not ok
  • Preparing for change (e.g. moving to high school)

 

PATHS works around 3 key features:

Feelings

The children are taught how to recognise different feelings, what it feels like to be happy, frustrated or sad etc. They are also taught what it might look like for other people. Feelings are described as comfortable or uncomfortable but all feelings are ok. e.g. It’s ok to feel upset or angry it’s how we then deal with these feelings.

Compliments

Building children’s self-esteem is key to PATHS so every day in each class there is a ‘Pupil of the Day’. The child will do special tasks throughout the day but most importantly be given compliments that are then recorded and sent home. A compliment is then also encouraged from home. The Pupil of the Day is also encouraged to give themselves a compliment. The compliments from home are shared with the class. Each month a Staff member is also given compliments.

Problem Solving

PATHS is about feelings, understanding our own and others. That is OK to feel sad or angry but it’s not OK to act aggressively because of it. PATHS offers strategies to deal with problems that arise. In Year 1 this is through Twiggle (a little turtle), Year 2 children upwards use Traffic Lights.