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Circle of Friends is an approach to enhancing the inclusion, in a mainstream setting, of any child or young person who is experiencing difficulties in school because of disability, personal crisis or because of their challenging behaviour towards others. The ‘circle of friends’ approach works by mobilising the young person’s peers to provide support and engage in problem solving with the person in difficulty.
Online Course now available via Teachable Platform – Creating Circles ofFriends Learn at your own pace… lots of text and video support |
Inclusion Peer Support Behaviour and Relationships Autism and Communication
Circle of Friends is an approach to enhancing the inclusion, in a mainstream setting, of any child or young person who is experiencing difficulties in school because of disability, personal crisis or because of their challenging behaviour towards others. The ‘circle of friends’ approach works by mobilising the young person’s peers to provide support and engage in problem solving with the person in difficulty.
‘Circle of friends’ is not the same as ‘circle time’ but many of the skills and techniques used by teachers in ‘circle time’ can be used to support the ‘circle of friends’ process. Over the past 12 years Colin Newton and Derek Wilson have been encouraging the use of ‘circle of friends’ in a wide variety of primary and secondary schools, often with very successful outcomes. Some of these are described in their books ‘Circles of Friends’, (Folens, 1999) and ‘Creating Circles of Friends’ (Inclusive Solutions, 2005).
This is an excellent opportunity to learn from Colin Newton and Derek Wilson the educational psychologists who brought this Department of Education endorsed approach to the UK.
Learn how to build teams around challenging pupils by drawing on a resource which is always there…. other children. Enjoy participating in a multi media workshop that will challenge, entertain and reach for your emotions. Circles of support are for us all, for life…. and they work!
‘Absolutely fantastic session – so thought provoking and positive.’
‘Well presented excellent course’
‘Wonderful, mind blowing day. Lots of children and young people there we need to really see – not treat’
‘Excellent presentation, lively, modern, current – definitely got the attention. Course gave great food for thought and I feel confident that this way of working will have a place in the future of our school.
To be able to understand the values and wider context of inclusion
To be able to set up and run a ‘circle of friends’ to reduce likelihood of a pupil being excluded or segregated
To understand and be able to maximise the power of the peer group in supporting relationships, achievement and behaviour
Primary and secondary teachers
Heads and Deputies
SENCOs
Learning Support and Guidance staff
Advanced Skills Teachers
Parents
Local Authority Support Services
Community Development workers
Early Years and School based Practitioners
The course answers the questions:
What do you do with the child who is isolated by their aggression and anger, through being different, disabled or new to the school or community?
Practically how do we go about including high profile children or young people?
How can we help some children be friends?
We will cover:
The importance of Welcome
Inclusion values underpinning this work
The Intentional Building of Relationships – ‘Circle of Friends’ work as an example
Not doing it alone – The Importance of Teams in developing inclusive practice
Practical setting up of circles of friends
Lessons learned
Stories of circles in primary and secondary mainstream schools
^ Circles of Friends Training in Kiev, Ukraine
We will always provide two fully qualified facilitators. Typically one will be presenting while the other will be producing a graphic of the session, making notes of key quotes and topics. They will have varying backgrounds in educational psychology. For more on who we are and our associates, see our website.