Secure children exhibit increased empathy, greater self-esteem, better relationships with adults and peers, smoother transition to school, and an increased capacity to handle emotions effectively.

High quality education and care is all about relationships. Circle of Security Classroom®, is an evidence based program grounded in 60 years of research about how secure adult-child relationships can be supported and strengthened. A child first learns how to self-regulate through repeated, predictable and consistent experiences of co-regulation - ‘being with’ primary caregivers. 

Michelle, a qualified Circle of Security Classroom® and Circle of Security Parenting® Facilitator, offers educators an opportunity to build on their understanding of the complexity of attachment and how it contributes to children developing a sense of security and competence, their social interactions and their capacity for learning. Participants will also gain insight into their relationships with individual children, including those who may be challenging, and consider ways to connect with and strengthen partnerships with families.

Circle of Security in the Classroom® also moves the focus from ‘managing’ behaviour to understanding and responding to the child’s communication of an unmet need. The course provides educators with the opportunity to reflect on their daily practices and interactions and develop the necessary skills to meet the attachment needs of all children in their care.

This program is also suitable for teachers, social workers, allied health workers and anyone wishing to better understand adult: child relationships.

To cover all course content, each participant is required to attend the full 20 hour program. (8 sessions x 2.5 hr or 3 days x 7.5 hour or a combination of these). Please contact Michelle to discuss your preferences.

What is this Circle of Security everyone’s talking about?

What is secure attachment, and how do adults other than a child’s parents ensure this is provided?

This introductory workshop led by Michelle Cuthbertson (a licensed CoS facilitator) provides an overview of the key concepts of the Circle of Security®.  The session also aims to inspire educators to reflect on their daily practices and interactions, using a lens of secure attachment, and provide strategies to support meaningful connections, strengthen relationships and reconsider responses to children’s emotions and behaviour.

If you wish to increase your understanding of “The Circle,” or would like to know more about the Circle of Security® before you commit to the 8 sessions, then this introductory session is for you.

This seminar is suitable for educators, but can be adapted for social workers, allied health workers and those wishing to better understand the adult: child relationships in their role.

Behind every behaviour is an emotion. Recognising, labelling, and managing the emotion is the key to reframing the behaviour.

This seminar outlines the principles of Emotion Coaching and how staff can build on their current skills to use these strategies in their day-to-day relationships with their all students, including those who present with behaviours of concern.

We will examine strategies to:

• Understand the emotional source of behaviours of concern.

• Support children/students to respond to emotions in socially appropriate ways.

• Increase the child’s internal ability to cope with challenges and difficulties.

• Strengthen relationships with children/students to enhance their learning potential.

An opportunity for educators to explore the complexities of childhood trauma.

Childhood trauma is a response to one, or a series of, events or circumstances which are emotionally or physically harmful, or life threatening, resulting in overwhelm and a reduced capacity to cope. These adverse experiences disrupt brain development and impact learning, emotional regulation and behaviour.

The Trauma-Informed Practices workshop supports educators to understand and embed trauma-sensitive practices into their daily interactions, by examining:

• Childhood trauma, neuroscience, emotions and behaviour

• Indicators of trauma and its impact on children

• Strategies to support trauma-based behaviours

• Responses which strengthen secure relationships and nurture wellbeing

• Educator professional and personal self-care

How can we ensure every child has a sense of belonging and feels safe and secure, is capable and confident?

Are respectful and equitable relationships developed and maintained with each child in our service?

This seminar provides professionals with opportunities to reflect on their daily practices as they engage in with children and consider:

• What is a respectful, trusting relationship?

• Being attuned to children’s thoughts and feelings

• Ways to intentionally support the development of a strong sense of wellbeing

• Being responsive to respectfully enter play and enrich learning

• Strategies to build and maintain respectful relationships

The increasing number of children, in our communities, who are struggling with anxiety, fears and stress is concerning not only for parents, but for anyone involved in children’s lives.

This seminar provides professionals, with the necessary knowledge and strategies to support children presenting with anxiety, by examining: 

• The neurological basis of anxiety, fear, and stress in children.

• Tools to assist children to build capacity to reduce their arousal, and eventually self-manage their anxious thoughts, feelings, and reactions.

• Adult responses and the associated impact appropriate support  can have on the child’s emotional state. 

Childhood anxiety can impact a child’s wellbeing, health and their potential to learn. However, it doesn’t have to be that way.

Informed adults can support children to manage their anxiety and become more resilient now and into the future.

From birth, children are learning about their social world and the complexities of expressing emotions and negotiating relationships.

Educators can provide the necessary ongoing support to children as they learn appropriate ways to engage with others; to consider the impact of their actions on themselves and others and to express their emotions appropriately.

This workshop provides opportunities for educators to consider new ways to understand and support children’s behaviours by examining:

• The relationship between the brain, emotions, and children’s behaviour.

• Some underlying influences on a child’s behaviour.

• Educator expectations, interactions, and responses to behaviours of concern.

• Strategies to support the development of children’s emotions and self-regulation.

• Communication strategies to enhance children’s listening and cooperation while building secure, respectful, meaningful relationships.

Primary aged children are still learning about their social world and the complexities of expressing emotions and negotiating relationships.

Educators can provide the necessary ongoing support to children as they learn appropriate ways to engage with others; to consider the impact of their actions on themselves and others; and to express emotions appropriately.

This workshop provides opportunities for educators in Out of School Hours Services to consider what impacts a child’s behaviours in group settings, and to develop new strategies to support behaviours of concern by examining:

• The relationship between the brain, emotions, and children’s behaviour.

• Some underlying influences on a child’s behaviour.

• Educator expectations, interactions, and responses to behaviours of concern.

• Strategies to support the development of children’s emotions and self-regulation.

• Communication strategies to enhance children’s listening and cooperation while building secure, respectful, meaningful relationships.

Speaking so children will listen and listening so children will speak.

Communicating with children involves more than just ‘talking’ and ‘telling’.

This practical workshop assists educators to develop the skills they need to maximise their interactions with their children, including communicating in ways that children will listen and follow instructions.

It also promotes educator’s understanding the meaning of the child’s communications by effective, age appropriate observation, listening and reflecting.

Resilience is a toolbox of skills which supports each person to adapt and cope with life’s difficulties in a positive way; it is the ability to ‘bounce back’ or recover from life’s setbacks.

This seminar examines how adults working with children can encourage resilience and covers:

• The factors and processes which contribute to the development of resilience in children

• Ways to encourage confidence and competence and cope with stress

• Balancing resilience with the need to express emotions

The relationship between a child’s family and their educator is unique. However, whilst the importance of educators collaborating with families is reflected in international, national, and state policies and standards, Australian research shows 98% of educators identify a need for training in regard to their relationships with families, especially in how to address their concerns with a child’s parents.

This workshop will provide educators with the skills, strategies, and confidence to address concerns regarding a child’s behaviour, with the child’s parents, by considering:

• Contemporary parenting practices and associated challenges for families today.

• Strategies to effectively connect and communicate with families, particularly when addressing children's behaviours of concern.

• Balancing families’ desires and educators’ expectations.

• Positioning families as shared decision-makers.

• The core values of genuine consultation and collaboration.

Research shows children are more likely to reach their full potential when their family and their educators work together (ACECQA).

Building respectful, collaborative, relationships with families is not an option, it needs to be at the heart of what educators do, to ensure quality outcomes for children.

Each family member is as unique as the child they enrol in the service. This course offers participants the opportunity to reflect on their ongoing relationships with each family by considering:

• Communication, consultation, and collaboration

• Authentic family-centred practices

• Families as shared decision makers

• Making the everyday connections count

• Intentional connection with those who may be hard to reach

• Effective support for the role of parenting

“Is my child ready?” seems to be the words on every parents’ lips as their child moves toward school age. The educator’s role is to help parents navigate through their questions and concerns whilst considering what is important from the child’s perspective about starting school.

This workshop:

• Examines what research is telling us about what makes a child ‘ready’,

• Asks us to consider what is required for ‘transition’ as well as ‘readiness’

• Suggests ways to partner with families to promote a smooth transition to school and encourage children’s love of lifelong learning

This introductory workshop is designed for those working with children diagnosed with Autism, ADHD or Asperges and their families, and covers:

• An overview of Autism, ADHD and Aspergers

• Early signs and diagnosis

• Myths and misconceptions

• Supporting the child’s family

“Working with children is the easy part of my job……. it’s the adults that I find difficult”.

Whether it is management, colleagues, or families that challenge us, daily conversations with those around us must be meaningful and appropriate, because interactions between the adults in the service, impacts the quality of the education and care we provide to children.

Effective communication is not innate, it involves practicing and refining skills.

This workshop offers participants the opportunity to consider their own specific interpersonal communication challenges and develop tools to be more effective in their daily interactions. We will explore:

• Speaking to be understood and listening to understand

• Overcoming the barriers to effective communication

• Developing the skills of persuasion, reflection and empathy

• Approaching and resolving difficult situations

• The role of Emotional Intelligence in conversations

A workshop for educators, allied health workers and social workers.

This practical and informative workshop is designed to meet the specific needs of staff who are supporting families in their parenting role, including families with diverse needs.

Participants will be encouraged to discuss concerns whilst examining:

• What’s happened to parents ‘being in charge’?

• Expectations, interactions and adult responses?

• An overview of brain development and emotion coaching

• The impact of adult behaviour on children’s behaviour

• Strategies to support parents to guide their child’s behaviour and strengthen the parent/child relationship

Do you offer creative art experiences, which are self-expressive, free choice, child-centred, and available to children without any direction from the adults? Or, are they adult inspired, adult organised and sometimes completed by the adults, so they “look right”? Is there an expectation that a child’s work must “look like something” when it is finished? If so, then this seminar will challenge you.

Early childhood educators widely recognise that it is the process of “doing” which is meaningful to the child and their development, not the “end result”.

Children learn by “doing”. As the author of the creative arts textbook ‘Do & Learn’, Michelle will encourage participants to consider how to promote this learning by providing creative art activities that ensure the children have a wide variety of experiences with the emphasis on ‘doing’ rather than the end product.

NB This seminar is particularly popular with Playgroups and Family Day Care.