Emotional Regulation

The SEND Code of Practice names social, emotional and mental health as one of four broad areas of need and is explicit that behaviour itself is not a category of SEN — an underlying need should be looked for. That framing does real work: it moves the question from 'is this child SEMH?' to 'what is happening, in which contexts, and what have we tried?'

The DfE's 2025 rapid evidence review on identifying and supporting children with SEMH needs, and the 2026 review of behavioural and social communication interventions, are the current departmental evidence base. Both are published as research rather than policy, and both are careful about the strength of the underlying studies. They are worth reading before adopting any named programme.

• Assess — describe barriers with evidence from more than one context, including pupil and family views.
• Plan — agree a small number of specific adjustments with the class teacher, with named responsibility and a review date.
• Do — the class teacher remains responsible for the child's provision day to day; interventions supplement teaching, they do not replace it.
• Review — against what was actually agreed, and be willing to stop things that are not working.

Provision should be proportionate. The EEF's implementation and SEL guidance both point the same way: fewer things, done consistently, with staff who have been prepared, beat a broad menu of interventions delivered thinly.

Most of what changes a child's day is what the class teacher does on Tuesday morning, not what happens in a weekly session. Support that is realistic for a class of thirty, agreed with the teacher rather than issued to them, and reviewed honestly is more likely to survive.

With families, the most useful conversations are descriptive and two-way: here is what we see, here is what you see, here is what we will try. Parents are frequently the ones who notice the cost of a school day, and are often carrying the strong implication that this is their fault.

• Predictable adjustments to transitions, unstructured time and arrival.
• An agreed break with a named adult, time-limited and not framed as a sanction.
• Adjustments to how the behaviour policy is applied — timing, privacy, processing time — while the expectation itself stands.
• Reduced incidental demand: shorter instructions, scaffolded starts, less copying.
• Targeted small-group work where a specific skill is being taught, with a clear exit point.
• A key adult, with the caveat that dependence on one person needs planning for absence.

Consider external advice when difficulties are persistent across settings despite adjustments, when a child's distress is significant, when there is risk, or when attendance is being affected. Routes vary locally but usually include educational psychology, mental health support teams, school nursing, early help, and referral through the GP or school to children and young people's mental health services.

DfE advice on mental health and behaviour in schools is a useful reference for the boundary between what a school can reasonably provide and what needs a clinical service.

• Participation: time in class, lessons accessed, attendance at the parts of the day the child used to avoid.
• Frequency and duration of incidents — and recovery time, which often improves first.
• Pupil view: does school feel more manageable?
• Family view: what is the evening like?
• Whether adjustments are actually happening, checked directly rather than assumed.

1. Education Endowment FoundationResearch summary
   Improving Social and Emotional Learning in Primary Schools — guidance report (2019, updated 2021)

   The main UK education reference for this area. Recommends teaching social and emotional skills explicitly, embedding them in everyday teaching, and planning implementation carefully — rather than buying a programme and hoping.

2. Education Endowment FoundationResearch summary
   Social and emotional learning (Teaching and Learning Toolkit)

   Summarised by the EEF as moderate impact for very low cost, based on moderate evidence. Worth reading before describing any approach here as proven.

3. Wigelsworth, Verity, Mason, Humphrey, Qualter & Troncoso (University of Manchester), for the EEFResearch evidence
   Programmes to Practices: identifying effective, evidence-based social and emotional learning strategies — evidence review (2020)

   The review underpinning the guidance report. Notes that effects vary widely between studies and that how an approach is implemented matters as much as which approach is chosen.

4. Department for EducationProfessional guidance
   Mental health and behaviour in schools (2018)

   Non-statutory advice on how schools can support pupils whose mental health affects their behaviour and learning, and on the line between school support and clinical services.

5. Department for EducationProfessional guidance
   Behaviour in schools: advice for headteachers and school staff (2022, updated 2024)

   Sets the expectation that behaviour policies are applied consistently and that reasonable adjustments are considered for pupils with SEND — the two things schools most often have to hold together.

6. Department for EducationStatutory guidance
   SEND Code of Practice: 0 to 25 years (2015)

   Defines social, emotional and mental health as one of the four broad areas of need, and sets out the graduated approach — assess, plan, do, review — that schools must follow.

7. Department for Education (research by University College London)Research evidence
   Identifying and supporting children and young people with social, emotional and mental health needs: a rapid evidence review (2025)

   Part of the DfE's SEND evidence programme. Published as research, not policy — the DfE states it does not endorse the approaches described.

8. Department for Education (research by University College London)Research evidence
   Behavioural and social communication interventions for children and young people with SEMH and autism: a rapid evidence review (2026)

   Reviews what is known about behavioural and social communication approaches for these groups. Again published as evidence rather than endorsement, and the reviewers are careful about the limits of the studies available.

9. Department for EducationResearch evidence
   Identifying and supporting the needs of children with SEND in mainstream settings (2025)

   The collection page for the rapid evidence reviews above, including cross-cutting themes on identification and collaboration.

10. National Institute for Health and Care ExcellenceProfessional guidance
    Social, emotional and mental wellbeing in primary and secondary education (NG223) (2022)

    Recommends a whole-school approach with a supportive climate and trusted relationships, universal curriculum content on social and emotional skills, and targeted support for children who need more — with staff training to deliver it.

11. Public Health England / Department for EducationProfessional guidance
    Promoting children and young people's mental health and wellbeing: a whole-school and whole-college approach (2021)

    The eight-principle framework most UK schools use to audit their wellbeing provision — leadership, ethos, curriculum, pupil voice, staff development, identifying need, working with parents, targeted support.

12. NHSProfessional guidance
    Children and young people's mental health — advice for parents

    Plain-English NHS advice for families, including anxiety in children and how to seek help through a GP or local children and young people's mental health services.

13. Anna FreudProfessional guidance
    Resources for schools and colleges

    Free UK resources from a children's mental health charity, including practical materials for whole-school approaches and for staff wellbeing.

14. Anna FreudProfessional guidance
    Mentally Healthy Schools

    Quality-assured resource bank for UK primary schools, useful when choosing classroom materials that are not simply commercial products.