Creating Safe Classrooms: Ground Rules for Sensitive Conversations in Primary Education
Talking about a tricky or sensitive topic with young children can be hard, especially in a whole class setting where quieter voices can get lost.
Why Establishing Ground Rules is So Important
Getting ground rules right is vital. Because without safe spaces to talk openly, children can shut down, disengage and miss out on key learning opportunities. Not only does this impact children’s ability to connect and discuss important topics, but from a safeguarding point of view it can stop children from disclosing things they are worried about.
So, how do we create a space that allows all children to open up, to feel heard and to feel confident enough to share their feelings.
Setting some clear expectations for working and talking together in lessons goes a long way. Co-created between adults and children, these ground rules support children to have more honest and open discussions where they feel safe to share, to get it wrong, to learn, to listen.
Top tips from The Story Project on Creating Ground Rules
✅ Involve the children – when they help to co-create the rules, they feel proud of them and are more likely to stick to them.
✅ Keep it simple and positive – use easy to remember rules that involve kind language. ‘Speak kindly to each other’ rather than ‘don’t speak rudely’.
✅ Use age appropriate language. For the little ones keep it short and sweet, for older children you can be more nuanced.
✅ Write the rules down and make them visible. Keep reminders to hand so they’re always accessible.
✅ Model how it’s done – children learn from how we behave.
✅ Check in regularly so that children are reminded of the ground rules and know who to speak to if something doesn’t feel right.
✅ Last but not least…use a book! Books are a brilliant scaffold for tricky or sensitive discussions. It takes the focus away from the children, shining a spotlight instead on the character – their feelings, their actions, their mistakes. When children see that these topics are safe to talk about and can look at them vicariously through a book, they are much more likely to reflect on their own experiences and talk about them openly. What would you add to this list?
Ground Rules and PSHE
PSHE is fascinating topic; from mental health to water safety, friendships to internet awareness…it is a curriculum that has the potential to cover some triggering and sensitive topics. So getting ground rules right in these lessons is even more important.
All children need to feel safe and secure to discuss some of the PSHE curriculum’s trickier topics. This is even truer for children who are vulnerable, who have past experience of trauma or those who do not feel confident sharing.
A lesson about mental health, for example, might fill some children with dread. “Will I have to talk about my family’s mental health struggles?”, “I can’t talk about my big feelings”, “it’s embarrassing” are just a few of the thoughts they might have. Thoughts that might make them hold back from learning and from sharing. But with respectful and carefully planned ground rules, these same children will see that they are in a safe space to talk, and this can be an incredible powerful experience.
Find Out More
Want to know more about The Story Project’s approach to ground rules and PSHE? Check out our book-led programme that fosters empathy and encourages open discussion…
