Kate Nash, our lead facilitator and program coordinator, hosted a podcast series for The Circle Education about parenting. For the Parent Project Podcast, Kate sat in circle with new and seasoned parents, as well as grandparents to talk about one of the most important...
Identity is a topic that is regularly talked about in our programs. Sophia Coopman, who has a Jamaican mom and a dad with European roots, wrote a blog about it. Sophia didn’t inherit the brown skin of her mom, which triggers total strangers to ask her if she’s...
Most teenagers are well aware of the dangers of vaping, but do it anyway. Our student, Sophia Coopman, tried to find out why young people start to, and continue to, vape despite the many health concerns, and how we can encourage youth to make healthier choices for...
This week we celebrated Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) Day. You’ve probably seen us using the term, but what does SEL really mean and how do we integrate it into our programs? In schools, the main focus is often aimed at academics, but emotional intelligence is...
Leading up to International Women’s Day, we asked Sophia vom Bauer Jackson, service manager at the Salt Spring Island Public Library, to make a list of contemporary female-focused books. This is her Top 5 (fiction and non-fiction) plus some extra recommendations (all...
Teenagers crave and seek risks. It helps them to develop and grow. We often think of risk-taking as dangerous, but risk-taking is not always negative. Healthy risk-taking – like hiking up a mountain, riding a unicycle, or performing on stage – helps kids build...
School is almost out, and students will have a well-deserved break from class. However, learning doesn’t have to stop completely as soon as school is out for the year. The holidays are the perfect time to practice kindness and generosity. We've curated five tips to...
On December 6th, 1989, the day that fourteen young women at l’École Polytechnique in Montreal were killed by a gunman as a deliberate act of violence against women, Quinn Mulherin (21, she/they*) wasn’t born yet. She learned about the tragedy years later when she...
Salt Spring Island does not have a lot of facilities to accommodate young people, but we do have The Core (Inn) on McPhilipps Avenue. It is a safe place where island youth can come together to hang out, play music and games, and where snacks and healthy food are...
Valeskca San Martin, a French immersion teacher at Salt Spring Elementary, has had the Respect Program – former Respectful Relationships - in her classroom for almost a decade. She sees social-emotional learning as an essential addition to the academics that are...
Identifying and questioning stereotypes, bias, and prejudice has been part of our educational programs since we started to develop our social-emotional learning framework for kids and youth twenty-five years ago. It turns out that stereotypes start to take form in our...
Olivia Sugden is this year’s recipient of The Circle Education Pass It On Mentorship Award. Olivia has been part of the Pass it On Girls program for the past three years. She was wholeheartedly committed to the program and its participants, and with her warm, open and...
In the third episode of the Parent Project Podcast, parents and grandparents talk about respect. How can we learn to respect each other within family? Podcast host Kate Nash dives into the personal successes and challenges of the participants in creating respectful...
In the second episode of the Parent Project Podcast, Creating Agreements for Healthy Relationships, a group of parents and grandparents explores how we can use agreements as a tool to navigate the needs and desires of everyone in the family. Family rules are...
In the first episode of the Parent Project Podcast a group of parents and grandparents share their experiences around building relationships with their children. How does it feel to be truly connected with our children? What are the personal successes and challenges...
Kate Nash, our lead facilitator and program coordinator, hosted a podcast series for The Circle Education about parenting. For the Parent Project Podcast, Kate sat in circle with new and seasoned parents, as well as grandparents to talk about one of the most important...
Identity is a topic that is regularly talked about in our programs. Sophia Coopman, who has a Jamaican mom and a dad with European roots, wrote a blog about it. Sophia didn’t inherit the brown skin of her mom, which triggers total strangers to ask her if she’s...
Most teenagers are well aware of the dangers of vaping, but do it anyway. Our student, Sophia Coopman, tried to find out why young people start to, and continue to, vape despite the many health concerns, and how we can encourage youth to make healthier choices for...
This week we celebrated Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) Day. You’ve probably seen us using the term, but what does SEL really mean and how do we integrate it into our programs? In schools, the main focus is often aimed at academics, but emotional intelligence is...
Leading up to International Women’s Day, we asked Sophia vom Bauer Jackson, service manager at the Salt Spring Island Public Library, to make a list of contemporary female-focused books. This is her Top 5 (fiction and non-fiction) plus some extra recommendations (all...