RJ during Easter Schools

Over the past two weeks I have worked as a centre manager during the Brighton and Hove Easter Schools. At the end of the first week a long-standing feud came to the surface and six year 6 girls each felt so aggrieved they wanted to call parents, started bullying each other and wanted to leave the programme.

I set up a restorative circle and we spent the hour normally dedicated to craft dealing woth the issue at hand. I explained that in the space available I could not help them sort out years of fighting, but I could make Easter School safe.

By the end of the session they had agreed (and adhered ) to the following:
1. In the mornings group A would come in through the playground, group B would be collected from reception to keep both groups safe
2. During craft group A would sit on the stage facing one way, group B would sit in the main hall facing the other way
3. We swapped the girls around to separate them during tuition time
4 By the end of that morning they would come to me with their mobiles and delete each others’ numbers to stop/ avoid prank phone calls.
5. They would go home and block each other on facebook to stop cyberbullying

When I checked back after the Easter weekend, no further problems were reported and the rest of the programme was calm!

This was just a start, but it worked.

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Feedback form finally there!

Please find under “New” the feedback given to me by the childen on the last course. They were a mix of year 5 and year 6, and I received 8 feedback forms from 12 children.

I have corrected spellings, but left everything else the same.

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Feedback Forms

Got the children’s feedback from my last school. Suggest you check the site next week. I’ll try and sort it over the weekend

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New course started

Just come back from the team building day at Blacklands Farm: we were 6 adults to 12 children and all were needed!

The children are very different in their needs to my past few courses (all year 5).

They could not manage to hold the talking piece and wait their turn – thisĀ is something I will need to practise in the small group sessions. They did not develop any kind of coherent group dynamics during the day – everybody looked out for themselves – or maybe another one or two -, even when told that success will be whole-group measured! It will be really interesting to see how they develop and how they are going to react to the challenges of the programme, particularly since a couple of the boys thought we would come to Blackland Farm every week!!

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Impact Studies

I am currently awaiting impact evaluations of the small group intervention I have just finished.

Following verbal debriefs the children were clearly aware of restorative concepts, using language such as “reparation” rather than “punishment”, and talking about consequences of actions and the need to put things right.

My favourite comment came from a 10 year old boy who told me that the most important thing he learnt was to “act genuine when you say sorry”…

Midday Supevisors have commented on an new politeness in the target group (language towards adults in the school having been an issue before), and the liaison learning mentor said she noted a clear shift in behaviour after about week 4.

Watch this spot!

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New Programmes and Price Lists

New programmes and price lists are available. They can be downloaded from the website or requested via e-mail: parrettjung@btinternet.com.

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Accredited Practitioner Status

Just to let you all know that with effect of 21 December I have been granted Accredited Practitioner Status by the Restorative Justice Council. The full profile and quality mark can be viewed on: http://www.restorativejustice.org.uk/practitioners/.

Below is some feedback from my latest schools:

Bettina,
This sounds very ,very impressive. Thank you so much for bringing this work to our school.
S.H. (Deputy Head, Junior School, Brighton)

… the outcomes are very encouraging and I am not sure I would not have had the expertise to lead students through such sensitive areas to a conclusion of restoration. I will be actively exploring avenues of funding through which to support one morning a week for you to work at [ the unit]
S.E. manager, school based pupil withdrawal unit, Sussex

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