UNIT 3: Circle Meetings at Umubano Academy
Behaviour Management - Active Citizenship, School and Parent Engagement
Circle Meetings at Umubano Academy
Circle Meetings are held at Umubano Academy every Monday morning. Primary 1 to Primary 6 learners are split into six equal groups so that each group has a mix of learners from each year group. Each group is given a classroom for their weekly Circle Meeting. Every week a different issue is discussed, based on the needs of the school. The Circle Meeting topic is decided every week by the school’s leadership team, during leadership team meetings. The leadership team also asks for ideas from the teachers who direct P6 student leaders to ask for inputs from their Circle group members. The P6 learners are then responsible for leading the Circle Meetings.
Every meeting begins with a warm-up game e.g. having the learners throw a ball to each other while saying each other's names. Then, learners discuss the weekly topic and give their ideas. Teachers are also part of the Circle.
In order to give every Circle member the chance to contribute, a soft toy is passed around the circle. When a learner or teacher has the toy, it is their turn to share their idea on the topic and for everyone else to listen and not interrupt; members of the group can also choose to pass if they do not feel they have anything they wish to say at that time.
Topics for Circle Meetings need to be chosen carefully. Appropriate topics may include:
- Open questions e.g. How can we improve our playground games?
- Topics that have lots of different possible answers or ideas e.g. What makes you feel safe at school?
- Topics that promote active citizenship to encourage individual and social action e.g. How can we care for our school environment?