Regulation Before Education: Why the School Landscape Matters
Claire Hunt, oobe, Regional Director, Professor Hannah Sherbersky, Exeter University, Associate Professor and Systemic Psychotherapist, Emma McNicolas, oobe, Director

Before children can learn, they need to feel safe. This session explores how school landscapes can actively support emotional regulation, wellbeing and readiness to engage. Moving beyond the idea of playgrounds as leftover space, it reframes external environments as essential infrastructure for calm, belonging and focus. Drawing on trauma-informed design principles and the idea of school as a place that should feel like home, the talk demonstrates how planting, enclosure, materiality and choice create environments that reduce stress and support every pupil, because regulation is the foundation that makes learning possible.