I have been working at Circles for 5 years, starting off as a Group Leader at our Farm site in Stock, where I ran groups on our allotment. Here I taught our young people how to grow their own food, as well as delivering BTEC units in Land Based Studies and basic construction. We grew food that our learners would eat at lunch times, as well as building traditional cobb ovens, planting trees and building projects that they had come up with. One of the highlights of my days was to see them pick the vegetables straight out of the ground or off of the vine and delight at how much flavour there was in them, compared to what they had tasted from a supermarket. 

 Before joining Circles, I worked in hard landscaping, helping to build gardens, as well as working with garden designers to install the planting. This fed my passion for horticulture, which remains to this day. 

I am now working as the Site Manager of Circles Woodland, based in East Bergholt, where our young people thrive learning various skills, abilities and social interactions within a woodland environment. Our learners work with the natural materials around us to develop a deeper understanding of how to work with nature and respect our natural environment. 

Working at Circles is a challenging but exceptionally rewarding vocation that I wouldn't change for the world. Seeing our young people grow in confidence, ability and in their social interactions is a constant joy.