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6. Key points from the evaluation:
- Flexibility to do what fits with individual school needs was seen as a strength, as was the balance of support and accountability.
- Effective development of RP could happen using different approaches - both
whole-school and more focused strategies. There is no one model of effective implementation. - Primary schools emphasised whole school, preventative approaches focusing on ethos, language and values in addition to curricular developments and particular practices such as mediation, problem-solving and restorative meetings.
- Secondary schools were more likely to begin with one part of the school or with more challenging pupils and to develop restorative meetings and mediation. However, some were developing wider approaches, spreading to subject departments and classrooms and revising their disciplinary and pastoral care processes along restorative lines.
- Restorative ethos building became increasingly central to schools implementation; there is a developing focus on the wellbeing of all pupils through RP, rather than only on challenging behaviour and disengagement.
- A continuum of RP was evident in most schools.
- Restorative meetings, informal conferences and mini-conferences were common.
- Mediation, shuttle mediation and peer mediation were widely developed.
- Formal conferencing was not widely used.
- Training/staff development was central - opportunities for internal and external training were both equally important.
- The cost of time for training was seen as a particular issue in rural areas with long travelling times and distances. The costs and availability of cover were particular issues noted.
- Visible support and modelling of a restorative approach by senior managers and key pupil support staff was very important; in the small number of schools where this was less apparent progress was less visible.
- Involvement of parents was still quite limited in many schools.
- Most energy has gone into developing pupil-focused restorative approaches.
- Emphasis on RP for conflict resolution among staff is generally at a very early stage.
- A response or strategy seen by staff as restorative may not always be seen as such by others involved, e.g. a pupil.
- Funding through the pilot project was seen as important by the schools to support their developments; however, there was also evidence of no-cost practice.
- There was a clear reduction in the use of disciplinary exclusion in primary schools.
- Some secondary schools reduced their use of exclusion.
- RP were implemented successfully in schools with widely differing catchments, including those with high FME rates.
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