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Nurture secure, trusting relationships in your school and give every child the confidence to thrive

Circle of Security Classroom Inset Days

​Circle of Security Classroom inset days can equip your staff with attachment research-backed strategies to:

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  • Understand children’s emotional needs

  • Respond effectively to challenging behaviour

  • Foster resilience, empathy, and engagement

  • Strengthen relationships across your classroom and school community

 

Delivered as two standalone inset days, Circle of Security Classroom is a practical approach designed to make an immediate impact on both staff practice and pupil wellbeing.​

Why it matters

After 25 years of research, we know that children who feel connected with their first teachers are more likely to:

 

• Feel connected to and enjoy belonging to their school

• Hold positive attitudes about school

• Look forward to going to school each day

• Show kindness and sensitivity to those around them

• Persist with school work in the face of difficulty

• Remain engaged with their schoolwork

• Have positive interactions with peers

• See themselves in a positive light even when under stress

• Seek out challenges in their school work, knowing they can turn to their teacher for help

• Work independently in the classroom because of confidence in the relationship with their teacher

• Bring a trusting attitude toward future teacher relationships

• Stay in school rather than find ways to go home early

• Have fewer incidents of school suspension or behavioural infractions

• Experience increased affection toward their teachers

• Demonstrate lower levels of aggression, less fighting/arguments with teachers and peers, and less disruptive behaviours in the classroom

• Experience some protection against the impact of growing up in stressful environments

 

(Cooper, Hoffman and Powell; Circle of Security International, 2018)

What we'll cover

Circle of Security Classroom is delivered as two standalone inset days, with the option to book just Day 1 as an introduction or both for the full course

Inset Day 1: Pupils' Attachment Needs in The Classroom

This training helps staff see the classroom through the pupils’ eyes. It helps to recognise the emotional needs that underlie children’s behaviour, understand how those needs show up in everyday school life, and respond in ways that strengthen trust and connection.

 

We'll cover:

  • Classroom circle: a graphic representation of attachment relationships in the classroom.

  • Coming and going: an attachment-informed way of managing transitions at the beginning and the end of the day.

  • The invisible children: building a secure relationship with the children that might be on the periphery of the classroom.

  • Curriculum of feelings: helping children express what they are thinking and feeling

Instet Day 2: Strengthening Relationships in The Classroom

This second day explores the teacher’s role as a secure base for every child, especially in moments of stress or challenge. Staff will learn how to reflect without blame, repair relationship ruptures, and show up with calm confidence that supports both children’s learning and emotional resilience.

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We'll cover:

  • The teacher's path to secure hands: a three-step process for showing up as secure hands.

  • Sort by ease of connection: reflecting on relationships with children who might feel difficult to connect with.

  • Repair in the classroom: making relationship repairs with children and supporting children to make repairs with each other

 

Together, the two days offer a complete framework for creating emotionally secure classrooms where every child feels seen, supported, and ready to learn.

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​​Visit the Circle of Security International website to learn more about this approach and watch the videos of teachers and early years practitioners who are using it in their settings. 

How it works

Group size: flexible, schools decide how many staff members participate

 

Materials: workbook provided

 

Location: at your school or online

 

Fee:

  • £1,500 per inset day

  • £2,700 if both are booked together

 

If you would like to explore how Circle of Security Classroom can support your staff and school, please email me or book a Zoom consultation.

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