Let us come to you and your team or organisation - wherever in the world you are - and provide you with direct inspirational training on how to set up Circles of Friends.

Let us model the approach in your school, community or college setting. Seeing is believing!

	'Circles of Friends' full article providing practical outline and introduction to this approach.
	Frequently Asked Questions
	Recent Evaluations of Circles of Friends
	Circle of Friends for a child in public care
	Setting up my first circle ever, a teacher's short tale
	A peer based approach to supporting children with autistic spectrum disorders in school.
	The X team: A primary team gets to work

Check out Popcorn and Skittles a really moving way of setting up a Circle devised in Vermont, USA.

‘Pupils throughout the Scottish Borders have given their views on what makes the school experience a positive one, whatever their additional support needs.  It shows the huge importance pupils place on friendships and relationships.  Being included in the academic dimension is not enough.  Children and young people value social and cultural activities – eating with others, going on school trips, taking part in games and activities with their friends.  They know they need help, but want it to be as discreet as possible’.

(Kathleen Marshall, Scotland’s Commissioner for Scotland and Young People 2007) Introduction to ‘Access All Areas, What children and young people think about accessibility, inclusion and additional support at school’.  Scottish Borders Council in collaboration with
Children in Scotland, 2007

Check out this sample video of a circle in action taken from the DVD.

These field recordings are very powerful ways of bringing circles to life in training sitautions and elsewhere.

Circles of Friends - Training

An inclusive approach to meeting emotional and behavioural needs

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?

Circle of Friends is an approach to enhancing the inclusion, in a mainstream setting, of any young person who is experiencing difficulties in school because of a 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 10 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 which are described in their book ' Circles of Friends', (Folens, 1999).

This is an excellent opportunity to learn from Colin Newton and Derek Wilson the educational psychologists who brought this DfES 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!

Outcomes:

•  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 change

Read Review of our new 'Creating Circles of Friends' book by Association of Educational Psychologists, October 2004

Reviews of the original of our book: (now sold out!)

This book has been based on Canadian Research and offers a simple but well-tried and tested solution/technique to help with re-integration into main stream classroom for children with behavioural problems.

The "Circle of Friends" technique is based on inclusion rather than exclusion and works by looking at the problem the child has in their social life and by involving their classmates to help them rebuild their social circle. This ultimately leads to the child learning more appropriate social behaviour, which will enable them to get on better with their peers. Obviously this in turn helps them to rebuild a peer group relationship and to continue to work on problems that will lead to more acceptance and inclusion rather than exclusion from these groups.

Using step by step directions on how to set up a "circle of Friends" case studies and examples/templates of handouts which can be used both by parents in the home situation and by others who work with or care for the children out of school activities and well as being used in school. This helps to reinforce the technique across all aspects of the child's life which essential for optimum consistency and effect.

The authors bring the "circle of friends" technique in an easy to read and well set out and written format. This gives everyone who reads this the encouragement to use the technique to its full potential. Therefore giving the child support, encouragement and help to integrate back with maximum chance of success for acceptance and friendship.

Ideal for use in all schools especially with those children who are on the vergeof exclusion.

Caroline Hensby 2002 - adders.org

This book has been written by practising educational psychologists who are deeply committed to the inclusion of all pupils in mainstream schools. It begins by looking briefly at the idea, rationale and origins of Circles of Friends, which Colin and Derek define as:

"… an approach to enhancing the inclusion, in a mainstream setting, of any young person (known as the ‘focus child’), who is experiencing difficulties in school because of a disability, a personal crisis or his or her challenging behaviour towards others. (This approach) works by mobilising the young person’s peers to provide support and engage in problem-solving with the person in difficulty" (p.4).

The authors continue that it is for all people - including educational psychologists, teachers and youth workers - who work with youngsters who are labelled and marginalised in various ways. "Ultimately", they say,

"it is a book for everyone because at some time in our lives, all of us are likely to have needs that are not typical" (p.4).

Beyond the two introductory chapters, the book systematically and thoroughly outlines the processes involved in establishing Circles of Friends from ‘Getting Started’ to examining the ‘Circle in Action’. Further chapters consider the issues of teacher and pupil outcomes, case studies, the theoretical basis of Circles of Friends and FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions). Based on the authors’ extensive professional experiences, these chapters are full of sound practical advice for those wishing to adopt this powerful strategy. The book concludes with a comprehensive and up-to-date appendix of additional resources, including video material and internet websites, to which the interested reader might turn for further ideas and information.

As a whole, the book is written in a lively, non-technical, engaging manner with numerous cartoon-style illustrations and it is highly recommended reading for all people who are professionally involved in trying to help children with relationship difficulties.

Professor Helen Cowie, School of Psychology and Counselling, University of Surrey Roehampton West Hill, London SW15 3SN. tel: 00 44 20 8392 3510

Jason's Circle of Friends

Click on the photo to see the team's remarkable comments after a year of working together.....

Circles of Support: Stirling Scotland. The Circles Project facilitates school based circles of support for disabled children. A circle usually consist of 6-8 volunteers from the child's class who agree to meet weekly with the child and an adult facilitator, to work together to increase the child's social opportunities and choices. Read the 2007 Full Review of this work.

Interim Evaluation Results
February 2006 to July 2007

It was not possible or appropriate to formally evaluate every Circle with PLUS involvement.  From a total of 25 Circles 19 contributed to this data, involving 10 focus children and 83 volunteers.

The following data are the result of formal evaluations completed by Circle members, school staff (normally class teacher and playground supervisor) and parents or carers of focus children at the end of each block of 6 to 8 sessions.  Evaluation forms were reviewed and improved during the first year of operation, so not all questions were asked of all participants.

Focus Children

• No Focus Child wished to withdraw from their Circle

(True for all children, all Circles)

• 100% of Focus Children rated their enjoyment of the Circle at 8 or above (on a scale of 0 to 10)

(True for all children, all Circles)

• Of the 10 children who responded to the question, 90% (9) felt they had made new friends or had become better friends since having a Circle

Due to changes in evaluation forms the following questions were only asked of 4 focus children.

• 100% (4) of all Focus Children questioned felt better about themselves as a result of being part of a Circle
  
• 50% (2) of Focus Children reported that they now play more with others out with school and 25% (1) was unsure if this was the case.

 All Circle Members

• 97% of all members rated their enjoyment of being part of a Circle at between 8 and 10 (on a scale of  0-10)
  (True for all children, all Circles)

• 92% (43) of all Circle members who were asked felt better about themselves since being part of a Circle

Parents of Focus Children

• The main benefits to focus children reported by their parents were:
• Increased confidence
• Increased independence
• Happier
• Opportunity to socialise with peers
• Made new friends
• Increased awareness of issues facing focus child

Parents were given the opportunity to detail any problems that had arisen as a result of the Circle.  No issues were reported although a desire for greater involvement out with school was expressed.

School Staff

• The main differences school staff noticed in the focus children’s behaviour were:
• Increased confidence
• Increased tolerance towards others
• Appeared happier
• Making positive relationships with peers

School staff were also given the opportunity to comment on any concerns they had regarding the impact of the Circle on the focus child.  Final evaluations before PLUS withdrawal did not contain negative responses.

Check out this edition of Special Children featuring Arousha' Circle of Friends. We worked with Bluecoat School staff and the Inclusive Education Service in Nottingham to set this circle up. Colin was Arousha's link educational psychologist for a number of years and supported her transition to secondary education. Arousha has completely challenged many assumptions about who can cope in our city secondary schools!! Well done Arousha!

Irish educational psychologist Bronagh McCloskey provides an extremely clear account of the values underpinning Circles of Friends and how to set them up.