Rural Response for
Healthy Children
413 MacEwan Street
Goderich, Ontario
N7A 4M1
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1 (226) 699-0707
School Programs
Each year, we offer a variety of workshops and learning series in elementary schools for primary grades across Huron and Perth Counties. Themes relate to disability awareness, self-regulation, personal safety and social skills.
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Additional resources for parents/caregivers on these topics are also available if you would like to complement the classroom workshops at home.
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All of our school programs are funded by the Government of Canada and community donations.
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If you are interested in any of the below programs, please contact Kristi to register or learn more.
Social Emotional Learning: Self-Regulation
This program is suitable for students in Kindergarten to Grade 6. It is delivered on a weekly basis for 5 consecutive weeks or a unique schedule to meet your classroom calendar.
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Self-regulation helps students cope with big emotions, adapt, and respond appropriately to their environment. It is an important skill for succeeding in school, community, and relationships. Students learn how to identify and communicate feelings, and develop a toolbox of activities and resources to support their individual regulation.
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We will also provide a webinar to share with parents and caregivers to support common language and understanding at home.
Personal Safety
This program is suitable for students in Kindergarten to Grade 4. It is delivered on a weekly basis for 4 consecutive weeks or a unique schedule to meet your classroom calendar. Each session runs for approximately 45 minutes to 1 hour during school hours.
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This program includes fun lessons with animated characters, stories, and activities that teach students how to be safe. Topics include identifying a safe adult, identifying feelings, naming body parts and establishing personal boundaries, as well as okay and not okay touching.
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The goal of this program is to increase knowledge about personal safety, in particular staying safe and maintaining boundaries at home, school, and in the community. Teaching these safety skills in the early years establishes a foundation for later learning.
Growing Resilience
This program is suitable for youth in Grades 7 and 8. Our facilitator will use an evidence-based approach to support Social and Emotional Learning as described by School Mental Health Ontario. It is implemented in the classroom by our facilitator, with the teacher or school personnel in attendance.
Growing Resilience includes six 1-hour long sessions that provide both teacher and students with strategies for:
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Positive motivation skills
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Relationship skills
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Emotion identification skills
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Self-confidence and identity skills
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Stress management and coping skills
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Executive functioning skills
After completing the six lessons, teachers can cue and coach students to apply the appropriate skills and strategies throughout the year to support a healthy and supportive classroom climate.
Circle of Security:
In the Classroom
Rural Response for Healthy Children offers the Circle of Security parenting program and are now also offering Circle of Security: In the Classroom. This professional development opportunity is intended for teachers, educational assistants, and support staff.
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This is a video-based self-reflection program lasting 8 weeks to help facilitate a positive, supportive classroom environment. Each weekly session is approximately 1-hour long. Participants will learn how to promote secure relationships within the school setting, how student behaviour relates to attachment needs, and how to implement this framework in their classrooms.
This program was developed with teachers in mind to capture the complexity of relationships in the classroom. Full attendance of the 8-week series includes a certificate of completion.
Circle of Security: Consultation
This professional development opportunity is intended for teachers, educational assistants, and support staff that have completed the 8-week Circle of Security: In the Classroom program. This is a coaching program for guided implementation of Circle of Security concepts in the classroom.
The main concepts covered will be:
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How to create relationship-friendly classroom structures/protocols
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How to address unmet needs of specific children
Our facilitator uses specific approaches, such as Primary Groups, Sanctuary Time, and Coming and Going in Childcare to help establish this structure within the classroom with a hands-on approach. Our coaching will assist teachers in understanding many topics from children’s relationship needs to how a specific child’s relationship needs can be met.
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We will discuss how Circle of Security is a behaviour translation approach, where we translate what seems to be dysfunctional or problematic behaviour into communication about unmet needs.