Restorative Practice
At St Mary’s Yoogali we strive to create a safe, happy and spiritual environment where all members of the school community are treated with dignity and respect.
(St Mary’s Mission Statement)
We aim to guide each child towards care for others, self-control and self responsibility.
The school must develop persons who are responsible and inner-directed, capable of choosing freely in conformity with their conscience”.
The Sacred Congregation for Catholic Education, The Catholic School p.31
Whilst the curriculum at St Mary’s includes teaching and learning which assists students to create and sustain positive relationships, when incidents occur a restorative approach is taken in order to rebuild relationships.
Restorative Justice
St Mary’s Pastoral Care Policy is based upon the principles of Restorative Justice. The underlying concept is to make each child, as far as possible, come to be responsible for their own behavior.
When issues occur the focus is on restoring the relationship with the person or persons who have been hurt and restoring the student’s relationship with the school community.
The Classroom Teacher
Each teacher or team of teachers is responsible for the pastoral care of each child in their class and for monitoring their behaviour. As a staff we collectively monitor the behaviour of the children on the playground and provide feedback to the classroom teacher and the wider staff if there are concerns about students. A Restorative Justice approach is used both by the classroom teachers and by the Serious Offences officer, to assist each child towards self control and self direction.
SERIOUS OFFENCES
The Serious Offences Program is primarily for playground/non classroom incidents of a serious nature.
Serious Offences are defined as:
. bullying
. serious physical contact
. serious swearing
. three offences of a less serious nature that have occurred over a short period of time
Definition of Bullying
Bullying is defined as repeated verbal, physical, social or psychological behaviour that is harmful and involves the misuse of power by an individual or group towards one or more persons. Cyberbullying refers to bullying through information and communication technologies.
Conflict or physical fights between equals or single incidents are not defined as bullying.
PLAN OF ACTION WHEN A SERIOUS OFFENCE OCCURS
The student meets with the Serious Offences Officer.
The following Restorative Justice affective questions are asked of the student about the incident:
1. Tell me what happened?
2. How did it happen?
3. How did you act in the incident?
4. Who do you think was affected?
5. How were they affected?
6. How were you affected?
7. What needs to happen to make things right?
8. If the same situation were to happen again, how could you behave differently?
Students are required to complete a My Choices in Behaviour form which is designed for the student to reflect on their choices, actions and the effect they have had on others.
· The student’s teacher and parents are notified and informed of the incident.
· If the Serious Offences Officer is not the Principal, the Principal is notified and informed of the incident.
· The child makes an apology to the offended party/parties.
· Once the Restorative Justice discussion has occurred Community Service may take place.
· Each Serious Offence is recorded.
Community Service
In order to repair the child’s relationship with the wider school community, the child may undertake some sort of service to the school community for a length of time determined by Serious Offence officer. The student has input into the community service that they see will assist the school community eg:
. Beautifying the playground by picking up papers, sweeping the cement or working in the garden
. Improving the learning environment by tasks such as cleaning desks
The policy is to be reviewed at regular intervals to ensure that it is best meeting the needs of students.
Changes are to be made accordingly.
(St Mary’s Mission Statement)
We aim to guide each child towards care for others, self-control and self responsibility.
The school must develop persons who are responsible and inner-directed, capable of choosing freely in conformity with their conscience”.
The Sacred Congregation for Catholic Education, The Catholic School p.31
Whilst the curriculum at St Mary’s includes teaching and learning which assists students to create and sustain positive relationships, when incidents occur a restorative approach is taken in order to rebuild relationships.
Restorative Justice
St Mary’s Pastoral Care Policy is based upon the principles of Restorative Justice. The underlying concept is to make each child, as far as possible, come to be responsible for their own behavior.
When issues occur the focus is on restoring the relationship with the person or persons who have been hurt and restoring the student’s relationship with the school community.
The Classroom Teacher
Each teacher or team of teachers is responsible for the pastoral care of each child in their class and for monitoring their behaviour. As a staff we collectively monitor the behaviour of the children on the playground and provide feedback to the classroom teacher and the wider staff if there are concerns about students. A Restorative Justice approach is used both by the classroom teachers and by the Serious Offences officer, to assist each child towards self control and self direction.
SERIOUS OFFENCES
The Serious Offences Program is primarily for playground/non classroom incidents of a serious nature.
Serious Offences are defined as:
. bullying
. serious physical contact
. serious swearing
. three offences of a less serious nature that have occurred over a short period of time
Definition of Bullying
Bullying is defined as repeated verbal, physical, social or psychological behaviour that is harmful and involves the misuse of power by an individual or group towards one or more persons. Cyberbullying refers to bullying through information and communication technologies.
Conflict or physical fights between equals or single incidents are not defined as bullying.
PLAN OF ACTION WHEN A SERIOUS OFFENCE OCCURS
The student meets with the Serious Offences Officer.
The following Restorative Justice affective questions are asked of the student about the incident:
1. Tell me what happened?
2. How did it happen?
3. How did you act in the incident?
4. Who do you think was affected?
5. How were they affected?
6. How were you affected?
7. What needs to happen to make things right?
8. If the same situation were to happen again, how could you behave differently?
Students are required to complete a My Choices in Behaviour form which is designed for the student to reflect on their choices, actions and the effect they have had on others.
· The student’s teacher and parents are notified and informed of the incident.
· If the Serious Offences Officer is not the Principal, the Principal is notified and informed of the incident.
· The child makes an apology to the offended party/parties.
· Once the Restorative Justice discussion has occurred Community Service may take place.
· Each Serious Offence is recorded.
Community Service
In order to repair the child’s relationship with the wider school community, the child may undertake some sort of service to the school community for a length of time determined by Serious Offence officer. The student has input into the community service that they see will assist the school community eg:
. Beautifying the playground by picking up papers, sweeping the cement or working in the garden
. Improving the learning environment by tasks such as cleaning desks
The policy is to be reviewed at regular intervals to ensure that it is best meeting the needs of students.
Changes are to be made accordingly.