In 2012 Alastair became an independent trainer and has continued to work with both Primary and Secondary schools across Yorkshire and Lancashire. He has continued to train independently as well as collaboratively with other L30 trainers and has now come fully under the L30 umbrella. Restorative practice describes a way of being, an underpinning ethos, which enables us to build and maintain healthy relationships. It provides a strong framework within which we can promote a whole-school ethos founded on the importance of relationships.

Difficult conversations, do they have to be? Remember though, there is no easy way to poke people in the eye. However we do it, its going to sting a little After all, it is said often enough that the quality of a student’s learning cannot exceed the quality of their teachers. But I suggest that neither the quality of the teaching nor of the learning can exceed the quality of the relationship between the teacher and the learner. Surely, teachers are already working to develop strong relationships with students. Is this not the case? Here, Finnis, who is the director of L30 Relational Systems, explains to Tes how the approach can work in practice.How does restorative practice fit into the current landscape of approaches and models such as relationship-based practice, strengths-based, trauma-informed, Signs of safety etc Allow your students to know you well, but know what is appropriate and inappropriate to share, don’t share that you tried the local alcohol for the first time, last night and you’re feeling a bit rough today. If we are not careful, we put our focus on the content and forget to simply connect. Our students need connection as well as the important content. The connection creates the space to then be able to explore the content. Connections can happen by themselves, but wouldn’t you want them to happen intentionally? I am relentless and passionate about working better together to produce brilliant work for great clients. This comes through a fusion of ideas, dialogue, relationships, expertise and irrepressible energy. Schools that explicitly put a greater focus on proactively building and maintaining relationships will find that there will be fewer occasions when relationships break down and, therefore, less need for them to be repaired.

So, how do you change the culture of a school? One classroom at a time. Where do you start? In the one you’re in now. It’s about using relationships to prevent behaviour incidents, rather than something you implement once an incident has happened. We’ll then draw things together by asking the ‘needs’ questions. What needs are there, and what needs to happen to repair damage and allow us to move forward?

Most people want to know if the approach reduces exclusions, raises attendance and raises attainment. And yes, we’ve seen schools move from “requires improvement” to “good” and “outstanding” under Ofsted. Although its roots are clearly in restorative justice – as a way of repairing the harm done to the community and relationships within it – restorative practice has the bolder ambition of proactively developing the sense of community and seeking to increase the social capital between people and across the school and, from there, into the wider community.

The idea is that with the above in place, there should be fewer issues with behaviour. But what happens when something does go wrong?Restorative justice is used when resolving conflict and repairing harm, whereas restorative practice is an underpinning ethos that builds and maintains healthy relationships. Put simply, restorative justice is what you do, whereas restorative practice is what you are. Spend time in the day to get to know your students if you can, find out if they have pets, ask them why they want to learn English, or if they want to travel to English speaking countries. Ask your students about the city you are teaching in and where or how you can learn about their culture, ask them what you should do whilst you’re in the country you are in. Making an effort to get to know your students and getting to know their culture will show you care about them. In addition, if you find out something about them you can then ask them about how their pet is, or how their favourite sports team are doing, or what they did at the weekend. I think we have four choices, four ways of being, and the ‘WITH’ box helps guide the way I act across school communities and in every other area of my life, be that in my leadership roles, with colleagues, with students, with families and also at home in my own relationships.