Anyone who’s had a responsible position in education has been at meetings where individual children are discussed. These events can be highly stressful. As a head, I once had to leave one abruptly and go outside to compose myself, and there were numerous other occasions where, once the formal session was ended, people sat in silence, staring at the table, entirely drained.

Circles of Adults offers a framework for a supportive way of running meetings about difficult children. It’s a non-judgmental, thoughtful, honest technique by which two facilitators encourage the adults involved to contribute their thoughts to the way a child is cared for and supported.

The importance of this book is the way it recognises that in a stressful environment the emotional stability and positive attitudes of the adults can’t be taken for granted. The target audience is adults working with children with emotional and behavioural difficulties - but there are many mainstream settings that cry out for this kind of structured support system for the staff.

GERALD HAIGH