Restorative Practices

 

Values

Relationships are the heart of learning at Porirua College - when things go wrong, we seek first to put the relationship right.

We own our behaviour - it is the responsibility of each person to make the right choices and get support to put things right if they go wrong.

We maintain and restore positive relationships - when we need support, we use restorative meetings to put relationships right.

We repair the harm done - through restorative meetings that agree next steps to put things right.

 

How restorative practice works

At Porirua College we aim to be responsible, build positive relationships and become powerful learners. When we make mistakes, we follow restorative practices to repair any harm and restore our mana.

Mini Chat - usually between a student and teacher during class time or after class and aiming to explore and repair any concerns to maintain the relationship between teacher and student and the student’s learning.

Chat - happens in response to a higher level concern and is led by an appropriately trained staff member with the student and the teacher or between students. The concern is explored and repaired.

Conference - is used when the incident has caused serious harm to learning or relationships and is hosted by our most experienced restorative practitioners. Other adults may be invited to the conference, such as families, caregivers, the principal or police. What happened is made clear and its impact explored before a way forward is agreed to and followed through. The conference may be addition to formal discipline procedures.

Circles - are class or group chat times and aim to build, maintain, and, if needed, repair relationships among students and between students and teachers to keep our focus on learning.

 

History @ PC

In Sept 2001 Conway Matthews, Lance Sekai,and Phil Skipworth were sent to Auckland as part of the Achievement in Multicultural High Schools (AIMHI) Project to participate in Restorative training. This was run by Margaret Thorsborne.

In 2002 term one we ran the pilot scheme of RP in schools and it flourished. At the time it was really needed and seemed to be just the right thing to do. In 2004 Conway Matthews and Phil Skipworth won ‘The Wellingtonian of the Year’ award for their work in this  field. Since then all teachers and most support staff have been trained in restorative practices, to different levels.

Porirua College’s Restorative Programme is well known throughout New Zealand and in some places around the world. Our staff and students use restorative practice every day to build and maintain relationships. Great relationships are central to who we are at PC.