Is there any special Circle Time advice for very small schools?
Q: 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?
Jenny: 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 session 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 (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.
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