“I wished we had more staff from our school here today!”
This was a successful opportunity for participants to share and learn from each other and from the 22 teachers from the Hull Collaborative Academy Trust in England. Hull and Whanganui are members, along with other cities in the world, of the Restorative Practices International Learning Community and as such share research and learning opportunities.
One of the many interactive workshops
Opening Powhiri – Hull’s reply korero
Principals, Deans, Teachers, RTLB and some secondary students from schools in Whanganui, Marton, Otaki, Levin, Wairarapa and Ruapehu attended the Forum held at Whanganui Girls College. A local country school committed their whole staff to attend the day.
The day began with a powhiri, organised by staff and senior students of Whanganui Girls’ College to welcome the Hull visitors to the Whanganui/Manawatu region.
Workshop topics ranged from “Implementation and Sustaining Restorative Practice in a School”, “Restorative Leadership”, “Restorative Circles for Academic Learning” to “Building a Restorative Culture” and “Working with Challenging Families Restoratively”.
The continuous buzz of conversation and connections made during the day reinvigorated the participants’ passion to implement and/or sustain a restorative approach in their schools.
“I was able to listen to others experiences and apply their ideas to our contexts, with the resulting messages being the same or similar to those we have. Most importantly, it doesn’t matter the location in the world we are, the basics of Restorative Practice remain the same for all of us.” Dean.
“I really liked the fact that the Hull contingent, were real classroom practitioners who not only talked the restorative talk but walked the restorative walk in an education setting.” Head of Department
The Whanganui Restorative Practices Trust thank Whanganui Girls’ College and the Hull Collaborative Academy Trust for this fantastic opportunity which progresses the “Whanganui: Towards a Restorative City” vision.