St Stephen’s Catholic College’s expectations for all staff and students are based on our College
values of Faith, Service and Courage and grow out of our Mission Statement.
Students are expected to:
- build successful relationships,
- develop effective communication skills,
- show respect, responsibility, confidence, compassion and awareness of God’s presence.
This is evident in our Student Engagement Plan as teachers work up and down the continuum
as needed.
Restorative Practice at St Stephen’s Catholic College
St Stephen’s Catholic College made the decision to partner with Adam Voigt, Cassie Kitani and the REAL Schools project to be a RESTORATIVE SCHOOL.
RESTORATIVE PRACTICE is the best way to build effective positive relationships, resolve conflict and improve student behaviour including bullying.
It’s about asking the right questions to students when things go wrong where the focus is on the PRESENT and the future rather than dwelling on the PAST.
Put simply, staff ask questions like:
- What happened?
- What were you thinking?
- How has that made you feel?
- What has been the impact of this on yourself and others?
- What actions need to be taken to fix the situation?
These questions allow students to reflect on their own behaviour and the impact this has on others. It’s all about teaching responsibility for their actions and knowing that nobody is going to do it for them. The staff help students do just that and be accountable and responsible for their actions. This is what builds strong, resilient and independent adults.
To understand how staff use this in classrooms, watch the following webinar from Adam Voigt which introduces how Restorative Practice is used in classrooms.
Restorative circles is another Restorative Practice strategy used by many staff in class to:
- Develop positive classroom climate
- Resolve conflict and address class concerns
- Focus on relationship building
- Maximise student engagement and learning
- Address bullying
To understand the various types of Restorative Circles used in classrooms from Staff, watch the following you tube link from Adam Voigt
