Friendship Project (K-2)

I had the pleasure of working with the kindies and primary grades at Fulford Elementary and Salt Spring Elementary (SSE) this year. Delivering the Friendship Project with little kids is so fun, adorable, and inspiring. They have such real and immediate responses to the questions. Doing sessions with little kids about emotional literacy - the ability to identify, understand, label, and manage emotions while empathetically responding to the feelings of others - is very fulfilling because they are so good at it. Having them demonstrate all the ways they feel different things is pretty cute.

One boy stood out to me during these sessions. He laughed a lot, so we were guessing he was happy. But he explained that when he is upset or scared, he starts to laugh. That was a great reflection for a boy his age. Talking about emotional literacy and emotional awareness is as relevant for kids in kindergarten as it is for kids in Pass it On, some of whom are in grade 12. It never gets old. We always keep learning about the unique ways we express our emotions and respond to each other's emotions.

The Empathy Project (Grades 3-5)

The Empathy Project has one of the biggest reaches of our programs because it is delivered from Grade 3 up to Grade 5. The content shifts based on the emotional maturity of the group. I always think of classes as personalities. Some classes are very shy and some are more extroverted, or really silly, or they need to be more physical to get the content, or more reflective. At SSE, I was delivering this program in a class that was somewhat reluctant and defensive. The students were having a hard time connecting with the teacher and with one another. There was a lot of eyerolling, and kids didn’t want to work together. Until we played this game, where they had to hold hands and help each other up from a sitting position. One student stepped up, committing to helping everybody. The class went from not wanting to touch each other to really working together. I love it when there's a game that takes kids out of their assumptions and their preconceived notions of one another, so that they can fully focus on the task at hand and find a way to be united through that.

The Respect Project (Grades 6-8)

In the Respect Program, I did a session on friendship, and how we talk to each other and how we find a sense of respect for one another, as well as a sense of self-worth. In a Grade 7 class, we incorporated an activity with some scene work.  We talked about the conflicts that come up in friendships, and then they had to share back with us. We always give them options to relay their reflections. You can make a poem, a rap, a skit or a tableau. And usually I say: ‘or you can do an interpretive dance.’ Knowing that no Grade 7 class in the world would ever do that. But this time, every single group, except for one, did an interpretive dance about friendship conflict. They were joking, but also wholeheartedly and passionately dancing. And it was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen.

The Trust Project (Grades 9-10)

I had great experiences delivering The Trust Project on Pender and Saturna Island this year, and I just said goodbye to the Grade 9 class at Pender Island School during their grad ceremony. That class was very diverse: kids from every island, kids with different personalities, characteristics, abilities and disabilities. Their acceptance of one another, their encouragement, and their willingness to listen and to be kind was profound. At the ceremony, I told them how radical that is. If they take that skill with them, they will have such great success. Often in this world, we attach a lot of status to people who make a lot of money or get high grades in school, but it is actually the act of kindness and connection that creates the relationships that will take us the farthest.  

Pass it on (Grades 9-12 after-school program)

It was a profound year for Pass it On because we had new facilitators in both our programs. In PIO Girls, we even had a volunteer and a facilitator who both had been in Pass it On. We had volunteers from the program before, but to have a past participant facilitate our program has been a long-time dream. The session I have the best memories of this year was the one that is called ‘words of affirmation’. It was a combined session of our girls and boys program, and we used the fishbowl technique where the boys went in the middle, and the girls sat in a circle outside of them and listened, and later switched positions. The checkout question was ‘I love you because’. They all told each other why they loved each other. I think it is radical when we can speak about the love we have without expectation or assumptions of what that means, without the idea that it is only related to romantic love. It was incredibly connective because they were demonstrating this deep vulnerability and care for one another, and saw that they were all capable of that.

Working with youth training (facilitator training)

We had two really engaged community trainings this year. These sessions are important because this way we create partners and friends within our community. And for them to apply our methods causes a big ripple. To be open and to be engaged in connection is fairly commonplace for the kids in our programs, but so unique in this world. I see that most when I work with adults. They are blown away by how much they desire connection and to be heard by each other, and how little they find that in their lives.

The Circle Educations provides usually two Working with Youth Training a year, one in the spring and one in the fall. Send us an email at info@thecircleeducation.org for more information.

The post ‘What We Do is Radical’ appeared first on The Circle Education.

Wendy Kaye retired on Salt Spring Island 23 years ago, but has lived in Courtenay for the past three years to be closer to her daughter’s family. Now that her grandchildren are a bit older and have their own lives, she will move back to the island next month. Wendy was a donor before our organization changed its name from SWOVA to The Circle Education, but became more involved in 2020.  She supports The Circle with a yearly donation and has also made a small bequest as part of her estate planning.

Rory Holland, who is now retired, was an entrepreneur throughout his working life. He moved from Bowen Island to Salt Spring, has three adult sons, and has been working with youth as a volunteer since he was twenty, striving to be a trusted person to youth, someone whom they can talk to besides their parents. Rory has been a supporter of The Circle Education since 2024. 

What inspired you to donate to The Circle Education?   

Wendy: “I know there are many non-profit societies on Salt Spring Island, but The Circle Education stood out for me. I have a strong interest in children and youth, and their development, and I love to support young people. I believe that the ability of our young to communicate with each other, collaborate, make healthy choices, play fair and respect others can lead to a better world. For them, and for us!

Rory: “When I moved to Salt Spring Island, I heard people talking about the Pass it On program. I was curious and wanted to hear more about it, so I called executive director Janine Fernandes-Hayden. When she told me about the programs The Circle offers to the island, I wanted to support that. The idea that there is a proactive program that encourages kids to be themselves and that builds compassion and empathy and positively impacts the way young people choose to engage with themselves and with the world. What is a better thing to invest in?”

What matters most to you about our work?

Wendy: “To me, the most important aspect of the work starts with The Circle Education’s ability to attract and train excellent facilitators. That’s where it all begins, really. Their leadership and mentorship are the cornerstones of the program. I love the range of subject matter they provide in such an integrative way.”

Rory:  “I support two organizations on the island: IWAV and The Circle Education, and at first I didn’t know they were connected in the past. It was coincidental. When you talk about gender-based violence, we often think of what women can do to protect themselves, but it is important that we focus on boys as well. Telling them that they can’t be angry or violent won’t solve anything. Working with them on their own sense of self in connection to others, and talking about other ways to express themselves, ways that do not include harming others, or harming women, does work. I love the idea of the tomato fight the participants of Pass it On boys had at Bullock Lake farm, and them talking about anger afterwards. That just gives me the chills; it is so perfect.”

Why is the work The Circle Education does urgent and important right now?

Wendy: “We all know that online negative influences directed toward young people are growing exponentially. The news they absorb in the media makes the world seem a scary place. There are lots of questions for pre-teens and teens to grapple with. What better place for kids to have than a setting with their peers where they feel safe and where they can talk and practice new skills with trained facilitators?”

Rory: “Social-emotional education really should be at the forefront right now. Kids these days are facing much greater challenges than when I was young. Just the impact of mobile phones, social media and the influencers they find online. That is kind of scary. It is healthy to have positive real-life role models. I am so impressed with the facilitators of the boys’ program whom I met in the past years. They are hard-working good men who are young enough to connect and engage with the younger generation.”

Do you have a memory or a story about our organization that really stands out to you?

Rory: “I got invited to the Pass it On Boys intergenerational session, where older community members and parents came to talk with the participants and share perspectives. As a parent, you don’t often get the chance to hear the kids talk the way they did during that session. I was just listening as a random adult and I was learning things about myself as well. It was just a remarkable afternoon. When I got home, I just couldn’t stop talking about it. Not every kid slides through high school, and as a parent it is so comforting to know that your child has a place where they have people and peers to talk to.”

What would you say to others who might be considering a gift of their own?

Wendy: “These special times and stabilizing core values together will impact the lives of our youth in so many ways, enabling them to make their way in every aspect of their interpersonal relationships as they head out into the wider world. Especially with parents so busy in their work lives and teachers overburdened in the classroom, we are very fortunate that Circle Education Society provides such a well-rounded, experiential program in our community. I wish that my teenage grandchildren, living in other parts of British Columbia, could have access to a program like this.”

Rory: “I would tell them that this is a program that builds our community. It is not an add-on; it is not nice-to-have. It’s a need. We are talking about the social fabric, the social structure of our island, making sure kids are not falling through the cracks. We want them to have adequate support, and that they’re building positive networks as they’re making their way through school. I hated every day of school, from day one up to Grade 12. It can be a hard place to be if you do not fit in. And teachers already have way too much work, so we should be grateful for an organization that is willing to come in. It should be funded by the province, 100 percent, but as we know, that isn’t the fact; we should find ways as a community to support it.”

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

The post Youth: What is a Better Cause to Invest in? appeared first on The Circle Education.

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Due to overwhelming donations from our community, we were not able to showcase all the purses in the online auction, so we have decided to have a Grab Bag Day at our office.

Did you miss the silent auction, or couldn’t find a bag you liked? This is your chance!

Come in and browse our purses that can be yours by donation! Cash only!

What: Grab Bag Day

When: Tuesday, April 28^th, 9 am – 5 pm.

Where: 125B #100 Rainbow Road, Salt Spring Island

The Purses with Purpose auction was sponsored by:  Bohemia Consignment, Rhubarb Designs, POD Contemporary, Mouat’s Clothing, Twang and Pearl, Fjällräven Victoria, Osisi Boutique and Country Grocer

Photo: Our Pass it On facilitators Lyyli and Patrick with the famous watering can bag and an evening clutch.

The post Grab Bag Day! Purses by Donation! appeared first on The Circle Education.

Sparkfest originated in 2011 when Kate Nash, now program manager for The Circle Education, was in her first year working as a facilitator for SWOVA. In second semester, she was asked to lead Youth Team, a group of high school students who supported as facilitators with the organization’s in-school programs at the time.

“We didn’t have a lot of budget for our Pass it On program, and the Youth Team wanted to be of service,” Kate recalls. “They came up with the idea for the fundraiser, an event that showcased Pass it On, run for youth and by youth, and that would appeal to youth. Which was new, because a lot of the fundraisers, although raising funds for programs for youth, were not necessarily youth-centered.”

While Kate and the Youth Team were full of ideas, they lacked experience in organizing a festival, so she asked her friend and event organizer, James Cowan, to assist them.  “That first year, I said ‘yes’ mainly as a favour to Kate”, he says. “I didn’t know much about SWOVA, or Pass it On, but when I learned more, I realized the importance of the work they did, and the programs they were offering in school. My child had just turned six, and I thought: I need this to be around in another eight years when my child is old enough to be in Pass it On, so I’ll do anything I can to help.”

Together with the participants of the Youth Team and Pass it On, Kate and James organized eight Sparkfests. “The youth and I would come up with plans, and James would ask me: Have you thought about ‘this’, and have you done ‘that’? It cemented the way we communicated. We brought in the creative ideas, and James backed it with his organizational brain.”

The first Sparkfest happened in 2011 at the Farmers’ Institute. “In hindsight, that location was hilarious because it’s massive”, says Kate with a smile. “Way too big for the fifty people who showed up that first time, but it was super fun. We made waffles, we had a bike smoothie blender, door prizes and live music playing all afternoon. We ended the festival with sparklers that we lit, because the group wanted the festival to be called Sparkfest. We wanted to spark ideas and connections.”

A year later, Sparkfest took place at Harbour House and eventually the event moved to Barb’s Buns. “The Orchard Room at Harbour House had hands down the best acoustics on the island”, James continues. “It was a great location and we were lucky because Harbour House donated the space for many years in a row before we ultimately moved to the heart of Ganges at Barb’s Buns.”

Kate adds: “In the first years, I just called people and asked if they wanted to buy a ticket; it was all word of mouth. When we moved to Barb’s, the event became more visible. We opened the sliding doors when the weather was nice and people who passed by wondered: ‘What is this?’ It felt really special to turn a place that people love so much into a musical venue. It also gave me the opportunity to get on that soap box and tell everyone how important Pass it On was. It generated a lot of awareness for the program and what we did as an organization.”

With their different connections in the music scene, Kate and James managed to establish amazing line-ups over the years. Not only did local musicians support Sparkfest but established Canadian singer-songwriters like Kinnie Star, Mae Moore, Tara MacLean and Ashleigh Ball also performed at the event. “We hustled hotel rooms and meals for them, and artists that otherwise wouldn’t have come to the island, all performed here for free.”

What started as a way to fundraise for Pass it On, grew into a yearly highlight for youth on Salt Spring Island. “Sparkfest was initially a strategic move to secure my job and a way to make sure this program continued, but it became so much more”, Kate says. “We generated a couple of thousand dollars a year for Pass it On, but when the program became more established, more funds became available. That’s when we started using the Sparkfest money to set up a similar program for boys.  I thought Pass it On was only relevant if we had a program for both genders.”

Sparkfest concluded prior to the pandemic as part of a strategic shift in organizational priorities. Both Kate and James look back at the Sparkfest years with affection. “It was awesome. Throwing a show is a pretty fun thing to do,” James says. Kate adds: “Wouldn’t it be fun to bring it back one more time?”

The post Thirty Years in the Making: Sparkfest sparked connections appeared first on The Circle Education.

The auction features a broad collection of designer bags, around-town bags, backpacks, evening purses and clutches. Save the date, check in on April 16 th, bid on fabulous items, and support a non-profit that does important work for young people in our community.

The Circle Education delivers innovative, evidence-based social-emotional programs for children and youth on Salt Spring Island as well as the Outer Islands. All the proceeds will support the organization’s in-school programming.

Why a Purse Auction?  The purses in our auction symbolize the practical toolkits that our programs help participants build - stocked with essentials for healthy relationships with self and others.

You can find our auction page here:

www.can.givergy.com/thecircleeducation2026

Thanks to our sponsors: Bohemia Consignment, Rhubarb Designs, POD Contemporary, Mouat’s Clothing, Twang and Pearl, Fjällräven Victoria, Osisi Boutique and Country Grocer

Photo: Band, Music and PE Teacher Brandon Bronson with a selection of the purse auction bags.

The post Purses with Purpose auction: April 16 – 19, 2026 appeared first on The Circle Education.

With this training, you’ll gain practical strategies to:

• Facilitate meaningful circles that open dialogue and mutual understanding.

• Use games, activities, and improv to boost engagement and connection.

• Foster trust, confidence, and authenticity with young people.

Led by: Kate Nash, longtime Circle facilitator and curriculum developer whose theatre and improv background makes every session dynamic, playful, and deeply grounded in youth development.

Perfect for: Educators, youth workers, and anyone supporting young people in schools or community programs.

This 12-hour training combines fresh ideas and ready-to-use tools to create spaces where every youth feels valued and heard.

COST: $200/person

*Investment details vary for individual cohorts and hosted trainings (on- and off-island). Contact us to discuss options for your group.

Hosted by The Circle Education, 125B Rainbow Road, Salt Spring Island.

Fostering healthy relationships and communities free of violence, bullying, and discrimination through innovative, evidence-based social-emotional learning programs.

Sign up here: https://revenue-can.keela.co/working-with-youth-training-april-2026

More information: info@thecircleeducation.org

The post Methods and Tools with Youth Training in April appeared first on The Circle Education.

The Circle Education celebrates International Women’s Day 2026 with the showing of Between the Mountain and the Sky. Local filmmaker Piet Suess, who also volunteered in our Pass it On Boys program, worked as one of the film editors on this documentary. He will be in attendance on Friday, March 6th, at Art Spring, and we would like to introduce him here first.

Piet Suess has been a filmmaker since he was young. At age fourteen, he started experimenting with filmmaking. “I was introduced to a lot of cinema as a kid, and at my dad’s co-op, there was a media/editing room in the basement with two VCR’s and some simple analog editing tools. I was tirelessly compiling short films and school projects with my friends - from Kung-Fu movies to sci-fi epics and documentaries about my family. I have always felt that filmmaking chose me, rather than the other way around”, Suess says.

Suess was born on Salt Spring Island and moved to Vancouver at the age of six. After high school, he earned a scholarship to the Vancouver Film School, and during this immersive 10-month program, he was introduced to digital editing, 3D, visual effects, audio, and web design. “I didn’t have a plan or future goals in mind when I started the program,” Suess looks back. “I just had fun creating things.”

After finishing the program, he moved to New York with a suitcase and 300 dollars, stayed there with family and found an internship with an animation studio/multimedia company. He taught himself editing with the newest digital software before returning to Canada shortly after 9/11. Back in Vancouver, he started touring around the world with Somali-Canadian rapper and singer-songwriter K’naan to document his music tour and worked on several other projects.

At age 30, Suess moved to Los Angeles, the heart of the film industry, though he wasn’t overly invested in mainstream film entertainment. “I worked mostly for NGO's, artists and cause-based projects that continued to take me to different places, following what I felt aligned with”, he says, looking back.

There have been a couple of times that Suess tried to step away from filmmaking. “I don’t really enjoy spending a ton of time behind my computer. It doesn’t always feel meaningful. But no matter how hard I tried, I always seem to get dragged back in”.

In 2015, Suess returned to Salt Spring Island, after spending most of his life in big cities, he felt that this was the community he was most connected with. In one of those ‘stepping away from filmmaking moments’, he took on a job as manager of the Salt Spring Centre of Yoga and volunteered in our Pass it On Boys program, a free after-school cross-peer mentorship program designed for kids in high school that supports mental well-being and healthy relationships. “I wanted to be more engaged with our community, I wanted to make an impact and see impact,” he says about his motivation to join our Pass it On Boys program.

His participation and insights helped in reshaping the program. He also introduced the ‘Mannenball’ game, a ball game which became an important pillar in the Pass it On Boys program. “It's a game my friends and I made up in high school, with a similar feel to hackey sack, but originally with a volleyball, which you have to pass around your body or part of your body, before passing it on. The object of the game is continuous flow, and can get quite fast-paced and skilled. It requires full attention and focus, and is used in the program as a way to allow everyone to arrive in the circle together at the start.”

Off and on, Suess worked for almost five years as an editor on Between the Mountain and the Sky, a documentary about Maggie Doyne, who started an orphanage in Nepal at age nineteen and became guardian to fifty orphans. He travelled to Nepal to edit on site with the film director at the children’s home and lived about a month there with the kids, teaching them yoga, capoeira, kirtan, a call-and-response style song or chant, and playing the harmonium.

Suess is looking forward to the screening of Between the Mountain and the Sky at Art Spring for International Women’s Day. “I worked quite a few years on this documentary,” he says. “My friends have seen me post about it on social media, and I think it is great that they now get to see it in a theatrical setting.”

Piet Suess will be answering questions on March 6th at Art Spring about his work on Between the Mountain and the Sky. If you have a question already, you can email us and we will ask the question for you. info@thecircleeducation.org

Buy your tickets here

The post Meet Piet Suess, Editor of Between the Mountain and the Sky appeared first on The Circle Education.

SWOVA started to focus on prevention and education in 1996. Birch joined the organization in 1999. Bringing his fifteen years of arts-informed social education, he worked alongside executive director Lynda Laushway, and co-facilitators, Kim Davidson and Ahava Shira (pictured with Robert Birch and Christina Antonick) to develop the first iteration of the Respectful Relationships Program for middle and high school students.

R&R was an in-school program that addressed gender-based violence. “Our approach was to do more than attempt to change an individual’s way of thinking. We knew we needed a structural approach if we were to address socially embedded, harmful norms toward encouraging youth, parents and educators to more actively participate in gender equality,” says Birch, who now works as a consultant and a writer on Salt Spring Island. “We wanted the program to have a more cultural influence.”

With the Respectful Relations Program, an award-winning model that eventually extended to other rural and remote communities in B.C. and other provinces, youth from grade 7 through grade 10 received 48 sessions of social-emotional programming in four years. “The Respectful Relationships Program was about understanding who we are within the context of social bias and how biases influence our behaviour towards others,” Birch continues.

“We began by looking at the nature of bullying, and by the end of those 48 sessions of sitting in a circle with two facilitators, students were able to identify patterns of healthy and unhealthy relationships, —understand how difficult, but necessary it is to leave one, and how to carefully support somebody who might be in one. One of the big indicators of the success of this program was that when young people felt safe in social learning models, the research revealed their scholastic outcomes also improved.”

Annually, students also spent two sessions in separate groups. “It created safety for girls and boys to speak their minds and hearts more freely. It wasn’t always easy, especially for the boys,” Birch remembers. “One question that almost always sparked meaningful conversations in the boys’ group was: ‘Who wants to be a father one day?’ Many said yes. They then shared what kind of father they wanted to be, who their role models were, and identified approaches to parenting they would rather not emulate. Often, this was the first time they had ever talked about this topic —exploring what it means to parent. It made them realize that boys and men can have values and roles that transcend gender; that they can choose how they show up in the world, what kind of family they want and what kind of relationships they will build.”

Birch was also involved with SWOVA’s Youth Team. The Youth Team consisted of bright, caring and socially engaged youth who came together once a week to participate in a deeper learning of the curriculum. “Eventually, they would join us in the younger classrooms as assistant facilitators. It was a critical part of the program's success to have older kids guiding their younger peers, as they were able to contextualize the learning through their own lived experiences. As an aside, it was also great for their resumés.”

Looking back, one of the highlights for Birch was the time when he was one of the provincial trainers for the Respectful Relationships Program in British Columbia. “Just seeing the light go on for many educators, the relief that they had finally found a program which the school system could benefit from. They were excited to bring R&R into their schools. Many teachers felt powerless around bullying. There wasn’t a strong educational framework at the time; while some schools had a no-tolerance policy on violence, most schools didn’t even have that as a baseline. R&R went right down to the roots of what education is and what it stands for: classroom cultures where every student is free to learn. It’s similar to being hungry, if you don’t feel seen and respected, it’s hard to focus.”

 While programs today may look different, the foundational work of Robert Birch and other early forerunners established core values, including safety, social-emotional competence, critical thinking, respect, equality, awareness of bias, and skills for healthy relationships, which remain strong in The Circle Education’s ongoing mission.

After his time with SWOVA, Birch built an international career as a facilitator and writer on sexuality and intimacy. His work for SWOVA in the schools was often challenging, but he remains convinced these social-emotional programs are vital. “Kids need a place to practice their innate intelligence, kindness, and care. These types of programs could make the difference between a life of connection or one of isolation, violence or even death. That sounds dramatic, but considering the times we are living in, it remains true.”

The post Thirty Years in the Making: ‘Kids need a place to practice their innate intelligence, kindness, and care’ appeared first on The Circle Education.

Do you have a high-quality, new or lightly used purse that you once loved but are no longer using? Or did you get one as a present, but it is not quite your style? Consider donating them to our Purse Auction. All proceeds will go to The Circle Education’s In-School Programs.

The Circle Education has been providing social-emotional programming in our school district for almost thirty years. Our curriculum equips children and youth with tools to communicate respectfully, be empathetic, and build healthy relationships; all the way from elementary school through high school.  

The purses in our auction symbolize the practical toolkits that our programs help participants build - stocked with essentials for healthy relationships with self and others - for when they head out into the world to study, travel, or work.

Do you have a purse that you are willing to donate? Purses can be dropped off at our office (100 – 125B Rainbow Road) on Tuesday and Thursday morning between 9 am and 1 pm. Or email us at info@thecircleeducation.org to set up other arrangements    

The post We want your purse(s) appeared first on The Circle Education.