At Unity College we seek to build a safe, caring and positive community. We use an approach called Restorative Practices that acknowledges that healthy relationships are essential for our lives, our learning and our community. All staff and students are expected to be supportive of, and participate in Restorative Practices when they are involved in a conflict, complaint or issue of concern.
RESTORATIVE PRACTICES AIMS
A Restorative Practices process will be used by all teachers and by any adults in the school who deal with students to:
- Promote, nurture and protect healthy relationships among members of the community
- Educate students towards self-directed right behaviour and model restoring relationships
- Enable students to be accountable for the real consequences of any wrong doing
- Have high expectations and insist upon high standards of behaviour
- Provide high levels of support and care for individuals
WHAT DOES A RESTORATIVE PRACTICES APPROACH MEAN?
It is an approach to behaviour management and discipline that emphasises the importance of relationships and is a way for students to develop better understanding of and empathy with others. The restorative Practices approach creates opportunities for those involved in a conflict to work together to understand, clarify and resolve the incident and work towards repairing the harm caused.
With Restorative Practices at Unity you will hear staff and other members of the community using the language outlined in the ‘Unity Restorative Circle’.
We use Restorative Practices to help if your child*:
- Is experiencing bullying
- Is having trouble settling in class
- Has broken a school expectation
- Has caused harm to someone, has a concern about, or is experiencing conflict, with a teacher or another student
- Feels he or she has been unfairly treated.
*Please note: In issues relating to sexual harassment/abuse, the College Child Protection Policy will be followed.
