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Health and Wellbeing

Understand Anxiety: 10 Things You Need to Know

A child who snaps at you or stops trying may be anxious, and small, well-planned steps can help them cope again.

  • 28 minutes
  • 13 modules
  • 0.5 CPD hours
  • Certificate

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What you'll learn

  • Spot anxiety behind anger, irritability or falling performance
  • Avoid reinforcing the avoidance that keeps anxiety going
  • Plan with a child, while they're calm, what to do in a crisis
  • Teach simple calming strategies children can use on their own
  • Set tiny, achievable steps and celebrate each one

About this course

Anxiety is a master of disguise. It can come out as irritability, rudeness or work that suddenly slips, and if you only deal with the behaviour you miss what's driving it.

These 10 things give you a working understanding of anxiety and plenty to try tomorrow. You'll see why a missed day of school can make the next one harder, and how to help a child face what scares them. Check their sleep before you reach for breathing exercises. Plan what to do in a crisis while the child is calm. And aim to move from a 7 to a 6.5 on a scale of 10, not from a 7 to a 1.

Sometimes it will go wrong, and that's a chance to work out together what to do next time. Meanwhile, be the swan: calm on the surface, however hard you're paddling underneath.

  • For early career teachers, governors and 6 other roles. All phases.

13 modules

Open in order

  1. Introduction

    1 min

  2. Anxiety can masquerade as anger, rudeness or irritability

    3 min

  3. A small amount of anxiety is healthy

    2 min

  4. The things that help anxious students help everyone

    3 min

  5. SLEEP is the most important thing

    3 min

  6. Our actions can either reinforce or break the cycle

    5 min

  7. Plan for crisis in times of calm

    3 min

  8. Our pupils need us to be the swan

    2 min

  9. Teach them to fish…

    3 min

  10. Aim for small steps

    3 min

  11. When it all goes wrong, it’s a learning moment

    3 min

  12. Wrap up & summary notes

    2 min

  13. Resources: cards against anxiety & anxiety hack videos