Consistent application of restorative practices in school results in:
- a calmer school environment, with less classroom disruption and more time for teaching
- an increase in the engagement and learning of students in the classroom
- growth in relational and problem-solving skills, both for adults and students across the school community
- improvements in attitudes and relationships across the whole school community
- a consistent best-practice approach across the whole school community that aligns with the school’s shared values.
As part of our Staff Meeting we used some of our time on PB4L. Today our activity was to sort out different behaviours and situations and to think about whether they were a minor or major behaviour. Here are some examples: vandalism and graffiti are considered major and running inside and making animal noises are all minor examples.
Our next activity is to role play a scenario and using our restorative conversations to resolve the issue.
Boy A wants Boy B ‘off’ the playground spinner so he can have more room. He steps on Boy B hands a few times. They tell each other to shut up in increasingly loud voices. Boy A storms off and sits alone.
This activity helps us to realise and think forward of what to do and how to deal with this in conversation. The steps are to: tell the story, explore the harm, repair the harm and reach an agreement, plan a follow up. Here are our speaking frames used here at Ormiston Primary.
This has reminded me to reflect on how I deal with certain unwanted behaviours in the habitat and how I can best deal with them in a positive and restorative way.
