Jenny Mosley Consultancies

Home/News, newsletters and events/Talking Heads - National College for School Leadership

"Talking Heads Scotland" - Jenny Mosley chats to headteachers about releasing excellence - October 2003

Wed, Sep 22nd 2004

So, you have circle time, a lunchtime policy, rewards and sanctions - but how effective are these? How are children's ideas being fed back into school improvement? Are your teachers fully trained in circle time or do they just think it's time for a chat? Are your listening systems active or proactive? Are your own staff meetings reflecting the principles of circle time in that everyone feels valued and heard?

Jenny, as a very small rural school we have had to adapt circle time mainly because we all know one another so well. Have you considered the small rural setting and made any adaptations to your programme to accommodate the special circumstances of a small close knit community?

Truly, I know a lot about the problems of working with small schools. I first freelanced my ideas for circle-time for Wiltshire LEA in the very early 80’s. They have many small rural schools – some one-teacher and many two-teacher schools…in fact the Small Schools association funded my first bursary as part of an action research project. What I learnt during that time is that there are both tremendous potentials and pitfalls!! I learnt that it creates a lovely atmosphere to run a large full circle at least once a fortnight. We used to call this the family circle. There are a range of games and activities that unite all ages. I have taken the same games to nurseries, secondary schools and older peoples homes. Many of these games are excellent for whole brain workouts, social skills and emotional literacy. The secret for successful circle times is to have a wealth of ideas at your finger tips. A lot of schools are not doing circle time properly. All they are doing is sitting around having a chat. This desultory conversation can meander down unsafe avenues and turn off children who do not have the same verbal resources as others. We train teachers to structure and adapt lesson plans based on a rigorous five step programme. We train them to use puppets, drama, mime and a myriad of creative arts activities throughout circle time to ensure that the learning styles of all children are met. If you and your other teacher had a ‘kit bag of power’, crammed full with lesson plans and stimulating ideas your circle times would never get stale. I would then concentrate not so much on developing a forum for children talking about (because in a small community these are often magnified and discussed!) but more as a forum for looking at citizenship and emotional literacy at a wider community and global level. Often, in circle time, rather than concentrate on the issues of the children in the circle we will use metaphor. We have a circle time suggestion box where children can put in their issues anonymously and then the teacher gives these concerns to either a big puppet (which both younger and older children love) or he or she will create a case study of an imaginary child which one child will be asked to act out in circle time. Pupils love doing this. If I am in an energetic mood I too will sometimes take the role of a fictional child who has a problem…the children love giving advice to me as a troubled, disruptive child and still use the same format of “would it help if I …would it help if you” (see Quality Circle Time – Mosley J LDA) So, I hope I have given you some ideas. The biggest ‘crime’ against circle time is not that people can ever get to know each other too well…it is that it is often boring. Circle time needs the same rigour and preparation as any lesson. There are a range of fantastic resources out at the moment which add zing and excitement. If I haven’t answered your question properly please do come back to me.

Hello, Jenny - I too lead a very small, rural primary school, where we all know one another VERY well and use our whole-school Circle Time to explore many issues. I do TRY to be innovative and stimulating, but would be grateful for your advice on new resources - the ones that 'add zing and excitement' - as I'm sure the P7 children are fed-up with 'only me' after all those years! May I say that your books were the inspiration for our whole-school assemblies and your ideas encouraged us to develop and create a supportive, happy community, which we want to sustain. Thank you!

Good morning For a start, I don’t believe the pupils are fed up with “only you”…to have stability from a teacher who cares is a really sound experience that enables pupils to find their own creativity. Creativity and innovation flourish when there is emotional safety within a school. If people judge too quickly or react too strongly to mistakes others can’t take risks…and risk-taking leads to excellence. So where is this little preamble leading? Basically once you have, set up and displayed the ground rules of circle time – for example, ‘we value each others ideas, we don’t use ‘put downs’, we don’t mention anyone’s name in a negative way and we think of good things to say about each other’ – then the pupils are ready to move on to a stronger vision of highly developed social skills, creativity, empathy, valuing and supported self discipline. The resources that help inject more fun and free up the flame of innovation are all very different. We find parachutes games generation from the new book ‘Making Waves’ is a great treat towards the end of circle time. We have families of animals and ‘people puppets’ that have a range of interesting lives and concerns that they need support from the children with. We have two new books ‘101 Games for Social Skills’ and ‘101 Games for Self Esteem’ which really help extend children’s emotional literacy. We have a kit bag that includes lesson plans that help teachers use props and costumes – such as cloaks, rain sticks, blindfolds, treasure chests and others. There are a range of new books with structured programmes of circle time lesson plans. We have new books coming out on how to use drama through circle time…but meanwhile we still have some Primrose Packs with lots of drama ideas in them. It is nice of you to ask about the resources because I do strongly believe that you need a range of ideas and props beside you to be exciting. As a teacher for many years I became good enough to get away with being boring. That’s when I developed the concept that children could invite other people to circle time. So we invited parents, grandparents, older people from the local home…social workers, probation officers! etc. This ‘opening up’ certainly jazzed up circle time. It made it more exciting to hear other peoples concerns and issues and to apply our collective mind to other people’s needs and problems. So, I hope these ideas have helped, do go onto my website which lists all the ideas www.circle-time.co.uk. We have a new catalogue out next week where we have included lots of publications from teachers who have created their own resources for circle time which we think are pretty wonderful. Right, that’s enough of the advertising… good luck, good luck.

Hello Jenny, some time ago a headteacher asked the following question of the Heads Together Community: 'Does anyone have any new and successful tips to sort out bullying. I have one group of P7 girls who refuse to be turned around by all the bullyproofing/ circle time / citizenship ideas and the parents aren't of much help. Any suggestions would be fabulous!" The responses received at the time were of 'empathy' and a feeling that "....there is no solution...!"

The head teacher who asked you that question represents many other head teachers!!! The group of P7 girls you describe seem to operate in many schools!! It would help me to know if this P7 teacher really felt sufficiently confident to run well-structured and effective circle times.

Circle time helps act as a review body for whatever strategies or policies the class has decided to put in place. So, for example, if a strategy was put into place that the girls were going to play safely together on step 4 (circle time if done properly has 5 steps) would involve the pupils in nominating each other for sustaining the improvement. Consequently, different pupils could be nominated for exhibiting various qualities of friendship. For example, the teacher could ask the question “who are you pleased with because they have managed to stay friendly without breaking up with anyone?” “Who are you pleased with because they only say positive things about people and they never say unkind things behind people’s backs?” “Who are you pleased with because they introduced new games?” They then receive a class team honours certificate signed by the whole class. In this way it might just be possible to keep an eye on the emotional pulse of the class. You would know from who they did not nominate how the dynamics were developing. You would know from who did get nominated, and by whom, how friendships were developing. Don’t forget that before a teacher asks a question, she prefaces it with “Remember – you can only nominate people who are not your best friend as they already know that you appreciate them”. If ‘offering friendship’ to the whole class becomes the defining ethos, they will work harder towards it.

The bigger issue is the parents. Quite often children’s relationships reflect the state of relationships amongst the parents. I don’t know how much proactive work you might have done with parents. The types of proactive activities a school has to engage in to involve parents are wide. Have they received a parent’s booklet explaining how the positive behaviour policy works? In that booklet there should be a paragraph on how parents need to behave positively towards each other and the school. It’s always best to strike while the iron is cold! If this type of work has gone on beforehand, it acts as a document that you can refer with parents. It is important to explain that there is a circle time suggestion box where children can post anonymously incidents that worry them. Explain that you are teaching children to take responsibilities for their actions and responses, and therefore you would expect parents to get in touch about issues that matter to everyone. At this point in the booklet you describe the behaviours. I think you need to be very firm. Plan, do, review. Ask parents in, plan the strategy, give it time to work and set a review date with them that actually suits you. Again this procedure needs to go into a parent booklet, maybe under a title “Showing respect to each other”. But it may be possible that this is very hard to be clear about your boundaries if parents are used to being immediately responded to. It’s a very complex issue and waves of empathy will be flowing the way of the person who asked the question from many heads. Sometimes being assertive can be very helpful (sometimes not). Maybe it’s time for a parents evening on self-esteem and how it affects a child’s life. I often mention how damaging it is for children who are labelled by teachers or parents. If I can give a presentation on the psychology of self-esteem without pointing the finger at the individuals who are damaging other people’s self-esteem, somehow it can resonate within them. They feel uncomfortable, especially if I quote research that shows the long term damaging effects of being bullied or being the bully and sometimes they will gently back off.

I have rambled a bit as I have no real answer for you. I’m sure somebody else who has suffered this problem will have a better, more vibrant answer (let’s hope so!)

What would you consider the 5 most important things a school can do to have emotionally safe classrooms?

The first tip for an emotionally safe classroom is an ‘emotionally safe teacher’! In other words teachers need to understand that they are the most powerful barometer of the emotional temperature of a class. It’s a truism to say that your mood affects the mood of everyone around you. When I am running training days I talk a lot about the fact there are days when even you know that you are too dangerous to go out! On those days I say to people ‘don’t try and do any exciting circle time or anything different – just get through the day with dignity…and treats’. We as consultants will then often help teachers work out how to put golden moments into their day and how to create their own personal care programme. The second step would be to work out, with your pupils, the moral values you all wish to adopt to keep your classroom physically and emotionally safe. We call these ‘golden rules’. Once the golden rules are up, they are backed on gold paper and then we take photos of children (with the ideas being suggested by the pupils themselves) keeping the golden rules. In other words we would have photo’s of children being gentle, kind, honest, listening, working hard and looking after property. You then need to work with the pupils separately on the routines of the class; which we call class rules; ‘We put our pens and pencils over in the box, we line up calmly etc, etc’. These are the safety routines and help keep order…but they must not be muddled up with the moral values. Once these are established, the third and fourth step would be to work out a clearly consistent, transparent and fair system of incentives and sanctions. Again, they need to be negotiated with the class and they need to reflect the language of the golden rules. In other words an emotionally safe classroom rewards children who look after other peoples emotions. Safe classrooms have rewards for children who are gentle, kind, honest, etc, etc. Your sanctions, to be emotionally safe, need to be based on sound psychological principles. We advocate the withdrawal of a privilege…which means that all children need to enjoy a weekly privilege in order that the class can celebrate all those pupils who kept to the moral values. We call this system Golden Time it has been structured particularly with the needs of ‘middle plodders’ in mind. In other words and emotionally safe classroom does not just focus on disruptive pupils it concentrates its resources and its energy on all those children who come in every day and keep to the ethos of the class. The fifth and final step (and I am taking it for granted that an emotionally safe class teacher would only offer children a curriculum that enabled each one of them to experience success and excitement) …would be to ensure that the weekly forum of circle time was vibrant and fun. I have seen some very boring circle times where the children sit in a circle but the teacher talks too much. If done properly the teacher would adhere to a five step structure which would not only allow every child to be heard it would also ensure that the class celebrated success and that the over riding ethos was that this circle is a fun and friendly place to be. To laugh, to play, to be creative and imaginative are basic human needs. Some of our classrooms are not emotionally warm enough. I would advocate that teachers share ideas and have staff circle times where they can experience the support and help of others…in order to understand the importance of maintaining this same ethos for their pupils. If a teacher is not heard or supported by her or his staff … he or she will have no energy to give to the class. So, an emotionally safe school will have circle time for staff and pupils.

Is there any risk attached to creating a class and school ethos which is inclusive, caring, protected, "emotionally safe" etc when the world outside school and beyond school is very often a quite different place. If we are to help build resilient children then they must have a safe place they can refer to e.g. school or the home. You may wish to consider reading the work of June Bluestein who likens the school to a dysfunctional family. Makes you wonder what the role of the Head is? It’s a good question. However, I believe, and theories would appear to support this idea, that an individual needs to feel emotionally safe before they have the inner strength to take risks. If you remember back to Maslow’s Hierarchy there are basic human needs which have to be met before an individual can reach the self-actualisation stage. If you know that you are within a supportive, consistent and safe environment you will not mind making a mistake and you will be prepared to exercise your own creativity knowing that there will be no lash-back. The safer and more supported you are, the more able you are to free your thoughts from the survival stage and look upwards to more exciting horizons. The more unsafe you are the more you have to concentrate on just coping with everyday life. Many schools fail to reach excellence because the staff are not safe enough with each other and they get trapped in, what the Elton Report once called “mounting spiral of stress due to classroom isolation”. So, whilst I totally agree with you that the world itself is an unsafe place, a child who has known safety can create a sense of order and calm within themselves. A child who had never has this experience is unable to create it for themselves. ooops!! Ethos!!

Hello Jenny - I have come into a school where right from the start it was evident that because of the circumstances the school and its pupils found itself in there was a very poor ethos. I have spent the last year trying to address many of the issues that were affecting the school in a detrimental way, but I am hugely aware that there are no quick fix solutions. I have noticed big changes for the better in the ethos of the school but am wondering how I can use circle time more effectively in my P1-7 class so that the good that has been done doesn't just fizzle out. I'm also looking for ideas on adding on to circle time so that the children don't think of ethos issues once a week but every day. I feel it's better to start small and be successful rather than try to do everything at once, but am not really sure what to do next. Can you help? Jenny.

I attended your recent resentation/seminar at Dunblane Hydro and found it to be fun, thought provoking, stimulating and relevant - thanks very much. What are your thoughts on the theory that it is not self-esteem which underpins achievement in schools (and in life), but rather self-motivation, and that these are separate concepts which may be related but are not mutually dependent?

This theory suggests that stimulating contexts and environments are the key to learning, and that many people with low self-esteem achieve very well in life providing they are motivated. Bill Gates is often quoted as an example of this. Is self-esteem the key?

Thanks for your kind words…..I had to laugh when I read the Times Ed critique of my “floor show” where I was reported as having seen lots of ‘dog’s bottoms’!!! I had hoped one day to be well-known for my erudite theories – not so!!! On a home-spun note – your question has ‘echoes’ of the question that I have just answered. If you have good self-esteem you are not devastated by mistakes or failure. This inner attitude to life then means you would then welcome new learning experiences. You are not frightened of them – they represent excitement and challenge. Low self-esteem, according to the theorists, means that you cannot cope with yet more failure or self-negativity, therefore you avoid experiences that will compound the feelings that you already have. There is no doubt though that the key to personal change is motivation. When I am working with unhappy, troubled children they will often change their behaviour patterns, not because we have had the time to build their self-esteem, but because they are highly motivated by their self-negotiated reward. For example, some children with very low self-esteem, who are acting out attention seeking behaviour adore helping younger children in a nursery. They will therefore hold back some of their ‘lashing-out’ behaviour if it means that they will have that they will then be awarded that experience at the end of the week. Then, interestingly, the process of helping younger children (in other words moving away from learnt helplessness to a position of helping others) actually begins to re-build the self-esteem. But the whole debate of self-esteem is hugely contentious. It was raging in all the newspapers about a year ago following a research assessment for the Rowntree Foundation by Profession Elmer of the LSE. Several journalists jumped on the bandwagon including Polly Toynbee, and abused this research to condemn all efforts to raise self-esteem. However, the problem with this whole debate lies in the question of definition. What some people see as evidence of high self-esteem may be “compensatory behaviour for a deep sense of worthlessness and low self-esteem” (Titus Alexander, founder of the Self-Esteem Network). It’s good to keep the debate going – and in terms of the particular issues you raise I believe, like you, that self-esteem and self-motivation are related.

On a personal note, as a child I was often in trouble because of my poor concentration and attention seeking behaviour (but now I get paid for talking) I am only motivated by experiences that touch my imagination. The process of entering these experiences in a whole-hearted way, in turn boosts my self-esteem. So, just a suggestion, but maybe the whole process is cyclical!!

Hi Jenny, It's good to have this opportunity to talk to you. I m head of a large Nursery Centre and appear to be hitting barriers to successful circle time. For the past year we have been operating the sanctions system using large visual displays. Within the 3-5 year old stage we have three open plan playrooms and for most of the nursery session the children move freely selecting activities. However tracking whether or not children follow the golden rules is difficult for staff. Part of the problem is that out of twelve staff only two have had access to circle time training. I am keen to resolve these difficulties as I firmly believe that personal and social development underpins everything we do and is key to a child's success later in life. Can you advise me how to overcome this problem?

I always feel slightly anxious when nursery schools talk to me about my rewards and sanctions system. I first wrote about it in More Quality Circle Time – but I wrote about it badly and the next edition needs to have a much clearer description of how the system works! You are right it is much easier if I can get a consultant to teach a school than try and describe it on the cold page! I am not sure how you are doing it but it involves a large happy golden sun with yellow pegs and each child’s face on the peg. This sun represents the 10 minute Golden Time that all the children will experience before they go home that day. Next to the sun is a warning symbol ie. it’s a lovely sun with a cloud passing over his face. If a child breaks the golden rule the peg is placed on the ‘warning sun’ with a gentle statement from the adult, “Do you know what golden rule you are breaking now? You are breaking the one of being gentle – if you stop kicking we will bring you back to the happy sun – if you kick again you will go to the sad cloud”. A sad cloud completes the visual display. If after a few minutes the child comes back to the golden rules the peg is brought back to the happy golden sun and everyone enjoys Golden Time. If, however, he or she chooses to break another golden rule the peg is placed on the warning symbol and then later that day when the class has 5 or 10 minutes “Golden Time” which usually involves simple party games. The child, who broke the golden rule, sits and observes a 1 minute sand timer. After 1 minute he is bought back within the Golden Time with a smile. Unfortunately, in the book I forgot to say that the pegs must be bought back to the golden sun before the children go home. In this way no parents will ever see the system actually operating and they will not know which children have kept the golden rules and those who have not! You see, even trying to explain it above is hard.

On a training day a consultant will show suns and clouds and talk through with each school their particular needs. If you are an open plan school the staff would need spend time on this system prior to operating it to iron out your own particular issues. If you met together all the staff concerned could voice their worries or apprehensions. So, I think that you are right, you do all need training. The most cost-effective, value added training is to get together with lots of other nurseries and share the cost of the day. We will take up to 100 delegates and even ask you to bring in a class of nursery children for people to observe in the afternoon. Per head our training is incredibly good value!! On another note we have some absolutely fantastic early years resources. We have Stepping Stones a two year programmes of circle lesson plans of PSHE lesson plans for 3 – 5 year olds. We have Ring of Confidence to help build resilience through circle time and, of course, and I have co-authored Here We Go Round which shows how you can use circle time to meet the 6 early learning goals. We also have a range of puppets to help young children discuss a range of issues. So, do get in touch if we can help. If not, I hope that the above has given you some clues! Sometimes though I do my own model a disservice by trying to write it all down because it so much easier to demonstrate it and talk it through. Thank you so much for your enthusiasm and your vision.

Hi Jenny. Several of our staff attended an evening session with you in Glasgow recently and came back enthused and feeling valued! Thanks! We have used 'Circle Time' for several years and have gradually developed a whole school attitude based on this. However we have not really focused on the adults. What would you suggest as a first step?

Thank you for being warm and positive. Interestingly, it puts staff ‘off’ if any manager says ‘we are now going to do staff circle times!’ It sets all the alarm bells going. I think the best first step is to share teachers best practise in a circle. Each member of staff is asked to bring a favourite game or an activity to a staff meeting and explain how they use it with the pupils. In this way everyone has a good laugh as they have to play the games. It gives people a ‘party bag’ of ideas to take away. There are some circle time sessions in Turn Your School Round which have some interesting handouts and enable staff to reflect more deeply on the needs of pupils. I looked at these again just now, prior to answering your question and realised that they are very sedentary meetings. I now, years later, use an opening game…half way through I would use a lifting activity…and then a closing game. The books that really offer exciting new games are called 101 Games for Self Esteem and 101 Games for Social Skills. It would be a good idea to ask three different members of staff to take a new game from the book and try it out, as a non expert, with the rest of the staff. If this didn’t work it might be a good idea to bring in an outside facilitator. Some schools bring in a juggler or a yoga teacher. The fun and warmth that these people generate then convinces staff that it is safe to be in a circle with each other. Once emotional safety is established it is possible to move onto deeper issues such as staff using its forum to ask for help with trying to understand certain unhappy children. In circle time this is called step 3. it’s vital that staff meetings end on a positive note. Some schools end with a round of ‘one thing that well this week’, some end on a success story where one member of staff has been asked to talk about a successful project or a successful strategy with a troubled child. I do hope that some of these ideas act as a good way in. Good luck, good luck.