Circle of Friends

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.

Course Category

Inclusion
Peer Support
Behaviour and Relationships
Autism and Communication

Description

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!

Learning Objectives

1. To be able to understand the values and wider context of inclusion
2. To be able to set up and run a ‘circle of friends’ to reduce likelihood of a pupil being excluded or segregated
3. To understand and be able to maximise the power of the peer group in supporting relationships, achievement and behaviour

Course Content

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

• 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

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