What should our school discuss during Circle Time?
Q: Circle time is used throughout our school and we have very good relationships all round. As a result I often find when I am working with my Year 5/6 class, they want to turn the Circle Time topic into a general discussion. Is this OK or should I restrict them and stick to the rules, perhaps allowing more general discussion afterwards?
Jenny: We are very concerned about some of the circles that we see and hear about in different schools. For example, some schools only have circle time when there has been a fight in the playground or another problem - the children like circle time so much - that they hype up their fights to get more circle time! Some teachers just sit around and have a chat - some Ofsted inspectors see a circle of chairs and think that this must be a positive strategy - not necessarily. I believe that circle time should have structure and rigour we advocate a particular 5 Step Model which takes pupils through different stages in the discussion and is an emotionally safe structure. If we are not careful sometimes the discussion becomes so intense that we forget the time and the bell goes. Then children go out without being emotionally ready for the next stage of the day.
We bring children down 2 steps - away from what we call 'open forum' so that they are calm, positive and ready for whatever is next on their agenda. We do have what's called a circle time suggestion box - so any pupil can put in, anonymously, any suggestions they want talked about in circle time. We then structure these into our 5 Step lesson plan - so they still feel that their ideas are shaping discussion. I hope this helps - at other times you may well want to move into a general discussion - but not within the type of circle time I am suggesting above. Just for your interest, you may want to know that this model was featured in the healthy schools partnership newsletters both in primary and in secondary.
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