Our Empowerment Approach

At Berewood Primary, we follow The Empowerment Approach, which helps children understand their emotions, behaviour, and learning through a positive, brain-based model. This approach supports our belief that children thrive when they feel understood, valued, and empowered to make good choices.

Understanding the Brain

As part of this work, we teach children about how the brain functions, what happens when they feel stressed or dysregulated, and the strategies they can use to get back to a calm, thinking state. This helps them develop emotional awareness, problem-solving skills, and confidence in managing their own behaviour.

The 5 Cs

A central element of the Empowerment Approach is helping children understand the 5 Cs, which represent key emotional and environmental needs that underpin behaviour. At Berewood Primary, we regularly refer to these and help children reflect on which of their needs might be unmet:

• Comfortable – feeling safe, settled, and physically/emotionally secure

• Connected – knowing they belong and have positive relationships

• Capable – feeling competent, successful, and able to manage challenges

• Control – having a sense of choice, influence, and predictability

• Count – knowing they matter and that their voice is heard

In order to function at our 'Brain-Best' it is important that our 5C's are met. We need to feel comfortable, have a connection with the people and environment around us, know that we count and make a difference, and know that we feel capable and can do a task and feel in control of a situation.

If we are dysregulated, it is likely that one of these needs is not being met sufficiently. Sometimes it is hard to understand what the missing need might be and we may need to step in and help to identify and help meet the missing need or difficulty. In order to do this, we need to be 'curious' about the behaviour. We need to be insistent, persistent and consistent, with a bucketful of kindness. We have to think how we can help the child manage their needs in a pro-social way so they have a pathway to independence rather than stepping in to rescue them. 

How We Use the Approach

We use co-regulation, modelling and coaching conversations to guide children through moments of challenge, helping them to understand what has happened, how they are feeling, and what they can do next. Instead of relying on rewards and sanctions, we focus on understanding needs, strengthening relationships, and supporting children to build long-term self-regulation skills.

We adopted this approach in the Autumn Term of 2025 and are embedding it across our school culture to strengthen our PSHE, wellbeing, and behaviour practices, ensuring that every child feels supported and empowered to succeed. Please see our behaviour policy for more information about this approach.