CIRCLE Resources
Aberdeen City Health and Social Care Partnership
CIRCLE has been developed through a ten year research and implementation process by a collaborative partnership consisting of teachers, therapists and academics from City of Edinburgh Council, NHS Lothian and Queen Margaret University. CIRCLE stands for Child Inclusion Research into Curriculum Learning and Education. The CIRCLE Framework has been created to support the development of inclusive practice as best practice in all schools and early years settings. It brings together and shares good practice and ideas from education staff, focusing on advice and strategies for improving the participation and achievement of learners with additional support needs. CIRCLE aims to support staff to work collaboratively to provide inclusive learning environments to support all children. Rather than expecting the child to change, CIRCLE supports us to think about adaptations that can be made to the physical and social environment around the child. There are three CIRCLE education resources, one each for Early Years, Primary and Secondary. The Primary and Secondary resources follow the same structure. The Early Years ‘Up, Up and Away!’ resource has a different structure but follows similar principles.
All the resources relating to CIRCLE are available to download on the CIRCLE website here:
https://www.thirdspace.scot/circle/education-resources/
CIRCLE education resources are free here: These resources are for teachers and other people working in and with schools and early years settings to support inclusion and participation of all learners. www.thirdspace.scot |
Please note that NHS Grampian is not responsible or liable for the quality of the information, resources or maintenance of external websites. Any advice on external websites is not intended to replace a consultation with an appropriately qualified SLT.
Supporting Early Years children at a Universal and Targeted level
The CIRCLE Up, Up & Away resource is a fantastic resource which is primarily designed to support professionals working in the Early Years. This resource was written for and by staff and carers who work with children before they go to school. The resource is designed to complement the knowledge, skills and experience of those working with children in the early years. Although this resource will benefit all preschool children, the main target group is children whose early experiences put them at risk of low achievement in literacy in the early primary years. The resource provides practical stage appropriate strategies for developing relationships and building vocabulary, helping staff, parents and carers to work together and share ideas for building the foundations to literacy. This resource includes Universal tools to support Practitioners to identify the appropriate strategies for supporting the development needs of all children in their early years setting, as well as Targeted tools to identify the developmental needs and appropriate support strategies for children who are presenting with developmental concerns.
Supporting Children and Young People at a Universal and Targeted level in primary and secondary years
The CIRCLE Primary and Secondary age resources are great resources aimed primarily at teachers. These resources focus on empowering education professionals to improve the engagement and achievement of children who have additional support needs. In addition to this, these resources promote inclusive practice and encourage effective collaboration between education professionals, parents/ carers, partner services and other agencies. The primary resource is beneficial for those working with children aged 5-11 years and the secondary aged resource supports those working with children and young people from 11-18 years. Based on the reflections and ideas of education professionals these resources provide practical strategies to support the underlying skills (e.g. attention and concentration, organisation and planning skills etc.) that children and young people require to enable them to participate in school. The CIRCLE Framework can be used as a way of organising and supporting input using a staged system of support, beginning with setting up an inclusive classroom. Checklists and planning tools are included to support discussion, and can be used to document strategies used and record professional learning.
