Restorative Practice

Restorative practices are a way for students and staff to build relationships, develop communication skills, and resolve conflict. Using a set of restorative practice tools, we can work together to help each other get along, repair harm, and support each other.

Restorative practices are part of the discipline continuum and do not replace traditional discipline. Restorative practices are used at the discretion of teachers, administrators, and students who are willing to accept responsibility for their actions when victims and others involved voluntarily participate.

How do we use restorative practices at NTPS?

There are a variety of restorative practices tools that our school staff are trained to use:

• Affective language: Supporting staff and students to use language that expresses feelings or emotions related to behaviors or actions. This includes statements and questions that help people develop awareness of how one’s actions affect others, empathy for others, and a sense of personal responsibility as part of a community.
• Restorative circles: Used traditionally by African and Native American communities, circles elicit student input and promote strong relationships and a sense of community when used daily as an educational routine. Circles can also be used as spaces of healing, places to resolve conflict, and a location where multiple perspectives can be shared to identify contextual problems that gave way to undesired behaviors.
• Restorative conferences: When relationships have been broken and need repair, conferences provide individuals an opportunity to meet face-to-face and discuss what happened and why, how each person feels, how to make things right again, and how to prevent future incidents. Keys to success are voluntary participation; responsible students who acknowledge actions before meeting with those harmed; and parties involved discuss how to make things right, commit to a plan, and sign an agreement to avoid future harms.