What is PATHS all about?

Promoting Positive Thinking Strategies is a social and emotional development programme. It aims to help children to be aware of their feelings, to be able to talk about them and to find good ways of dealing with uncomfortable feelings. It also teaches the children problem solving skills and helps them to develop good relationships with their peers.

Children will take part in circle time where they will have the opportunity to learn about and discuss their feelings, with the help of Twiggle and his puppet friends.

As part of this time the children are going to be learning about compliments. A child will be chosen to be Twiggle’s special helper and will receive compliments from the rest of the children that will be written up and given home. When it is your child’s turn, we ask that you would also share a compliment with them. We hope that this will help the children to develop in their self esteem and the support and respect they show each other as friends.

Here are some suggestions of things you can be doing at home to support and develop this learning;

• Talk to your child about their feelings Encourage them to name their feelings
• Ask them how they know someone is feeling a particular way by looking for facial clues
• Ask them to give you real life examples of how they feel so they can link their experiences to their feelings.
• Encourage them to recognise how other people might be feeling, e.g. family members or characters in books or films

Now lets meet our Paths friends,

Twiggle the Turtle

Henrietta the Headgehog

Duke the Dog

Daphne the Duck