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Life is busy at the moment with a number of final tweaks being made to The Circle program before it commences in five schools in the ACT and regional NSW in Term 1.

Seven programs will be run in Caroline Chisholm School (1) , Braidwood Central School (2), Amaroo School (2), Calwell High School (1) and Melba Copeland High School (1) during the Term. 

Six of the above will be the original The Circle program (updated for 2025), while one program at Amaroo School will be a pilot program for The Full Circle, a multi-Term program aimed at Year  9 students. The Full Circle introduces elements of rites of passage including challenges (Quests) categorized under The Circles values of Strength, Honour and Compassion.  The program will culminate in a gathering of students, parents/carers and teachers to recognise the progress the students have made over the course of The Full Circle and celebrate their new status as young adults.

Life is busy at the moment with a number of final tweaks being made to The Circle program before it commences in five schools in the ACT and regional NSW in Term 1.

Seven programs will be run in Caroline Chisholm School (1) , Braidwood Central School (2), Amaroo School (2), Calwell High School (1) and Melba Copeland High School (1) during the Term. 

Six of the above will be the original The Circle program (updated for 2025), while one program at Amaroo School will be a pilot program for The Full Circle, a multi-Term program aimed at Year  9 students. The Full Circle introduces elements of rites of passage including challenges (Quests) categorized under The Circles values of Strength, Honour and Compassion.  The program will culminate in a gathering of students, parents/carers and teachers to recognise the progress the students have made over the course of The Full Circle and celebrate their new status as young adults.

The Circle 2024 Impact Survey indicates those areas of their lives that participants have identified as having improved through their participation in the program.

The Satisfaction Survey allows participants to indicate how happy they were with the program overall. Addtional questions on the survey also enable participants to highlight areas of the program they liked, and areas of the program that can be improved.

The survey is both voluntary and anonymous.

The results from the 2024 surveys show The Circle is meeting its stated aims but, of course, there is always room for improvement.

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Term 2 2024 saw a new challenge presented to me when I was asked whether I would consider running The Circle for an all-female cohort. 

The school that requested this was very familiar with The Circle and how it worked with the young male students that had been through the program and felt it was worth seeing if their female students would respond favourably to the program.

11 young women began the program in Term 4 with the understanding that they could cease attendance at any time if they felt it wasn't for them. Over the seven weeks of the program the number of attendees swelled to 14 before ending with 9 students. Just under 90% of participants responded that they liked or loved the program in the Participant survey conducted at the end of the program. 

This attests to The Circle's content being applicable to all young people, not just the lads that have been it's target from the start.