The use of circles in secondary schools.

Jane Harris Jason Blount

 Pro- active circles and building community

 Encouraging responsibility and setting ground rules

 Responding to conflict and challenging behaviour

 Resolving tension and conflict and repairing relationships through responsive circles

 Equality  Safety and Trust  Responsibility  Builds connections  Ownership  Develops confidence  Helps the learning process  Encourages empathy  Share experiences

 Re -name circle time ( if appropriate)  Choose relevant topics  Use restorative language-affective questions and

statements  Train pupils as facilitators  Encourage and empower staff   Involve parents/carers  Use a talking piece  Establish clear ground rules  Keep responsive circles solution focused  Deal with non- compliance firmly as a group   Introduce circles in learning and teaching

 Learning and teaching- starters, plenaries, collaborative tasks, carousel activities

 Preparation for - visits, visitors, new class activities

 Establishing ground rules/expectations for behaviour

  Addressing class issues- homework, attendance, fulfilling school’s key values

 Check in circles- feeling charts, fun go arounds, friendship activities, welcoming new pupils

 KS4 specific issues- revision, post 16, application forms, CVs

 What happened?  What were you thinking about at the time?  Who has been affected?  How have they been affected?  What do you think needs to happen next?

To address  Challenging behaviour in class  Relationship breakdown-pupil/pupil, pupil/

teacher, parent/teacher, teacher/teacher  General unsettled/unfocused behaviour in

class activities  Break and lunchtime problems