News

Restorative Justice Workshops – Year Six

Posted On: 23 November 2017

‘I found it kind of inspirational and really enjoyable to take part in because it made me realise how something can affect a lot of people in different ways.’ Zahraa

This week, our Year Six students were visited by staff from the Essex Youth

Offenders Team to learn about restorative justice. Restorative justice ‘brings those harmed by crime or conflict and those responsible for the harm into communication, enabling everyone affected by a particular incident to play a part in repairing the harm and finding a positive way forward.’ (https://restorativejustice.org.uk/) The children took part in games and activities which were designed to encourage discussion about how people’s perspectives on events may differ, according to their interpretation of a situation, and how someone’s negative actions may impact on a greater number of people than perhaps we had first considered. Finally, the children were empowered to ask the five ‘magic questions’, designed to enable them solve conflicts and move forward through discussion whilst taking ownership of their own behaviour.  

‘The activity I gained the most from was definitely the ‘ripple effect’ game because it made me really think about different people’s perspectives. You could see how some people would be more affected by a situation than others would.’ Logan

‘As a result of this workshop, I have learnt how to deal with things in a different way, instead of just listening to one person’s story and blaming it on someone.’ Aiden

A big ‘well done’ to the pupils, who conducted themselves, as always, with the maturity and high expectations that we have come to expect of our students. This sentiment was echoed in feedback from our visitors: ‘We were really impressed with the school and the Year 6 pupils were amazing! Their behaviour and confidence was great and the questions they asked us were really interesting.’ It’s always nice to hear what we already know to be true!