Assistant Principal's Message
A message from our Assistant Principal
Curriculum Day – Friday March 6th Restorative Practices 2.0
Our recent Curriculum Day with Daniel Vella from Real Schools provided a valuable and engaging professional learning opportunity for all staff.
Restorative Practices are most impactful when all stakeholders are actively engaged—students, staff and parents. With this in mind, it was fantastic to have all teams across the school involved on the day, including our office staff, Learning Support team, leadership, classroom and specialist teachers, and our relief staff. Beginning this work together ensures we can build a consistent approach to language, mindset and conduct as we strengthen our restorative practices and culture at MPPS.
Daniel guided us through the fundamental elements of restorative practices, with a particular focus on the importance of language. The Language of Restorative Practices is central to successfully embedding both mindset and conduct.
This includes:
- using affective statements rather than admonishment or shame
- developing ‘stored responses’ to support conflict resolution and behaviour
- positively priming expectations for behaviour
- ensuring stakeholder protection for students, staff and parents
These elements are most effective when all stakeholders work in partnership, underpinned by strong, respectful relationships, to support every child to succeed. Together, we play a vital role in guiding our students to become thoughtful and responsible individuals.
Daniel also shared powerful anecdotes from his experience as a Principal and Expert Facilitator with Real Schools. These stories highlighted the significant impact restorative practices can have on school culture and student wellbeing. Staff participated in circles and role plays, providing practical opportunities to model and practice these approaches.
As a staff, we have begun unpacking the learning and resources, particularly around affective statements and restorative language. This will remain a focus in upcoming leadership, team and whole-staff meetings.
Affective statements are also a valuable strategy for use at home. When schools and families share a common language, the impact for children is even greater. We encourage families to explore the short articles available through the Real Schools portal on Affective Statements and Priming Language, which highlight how language can positively influence children both at school and at home.
Daniel will also be joining our School Council meeting on Tuesday March 24th, providing an opportunity for both returning and newly appointed members to learn more about restorative practices and ask questions. We are grateful for the School Council’s ongoing support in implementing RP 2.0 at MPPS.
We look forward to continuing this important work as we strengthen our approach to student wellbeing and behaviour through Restorative Practices.
Looking forward to seeing you around the school.
Kind regards,
Sue Gordon
