Blackburn Lake Primary School uses a restorative practices approach to student behaviour and wellbeing. Restorative practices, based on the concept of Restorative Justice, are the link between care and support for our students and discipline procedures. They have at their foundation the belief that student wellbeing is integral to teaching and learning and they are based on cooperation, collaboration and respectful dialogue. The objective of restorative practices is to offer an opportunity for the wrongdoer to make amends and restore the relationship.
When an incident or a challenge occurs the student is encouraged to reflect on their behaviour and actions, helping them to understand how the situation came about and how they can change their response in the future if the same situation arises. The questions they reflect on include:
Yard and Classroom Behaviour Management
At the commencement of the year, classes work together to form a set of shared beliefs. These expectations centre on our school’s TRRAC values: Thinking, Respect, Responsibility, Attitude and Caring. Classes discuss each value to develop a clear understanding of what each means in terms of everyday behaviour, both for the classroom and in the playground.
Along with ‘Restorative Practices’, inappropriate classroom and yard behaviour, will be supported through a staged response, including:
A student may be excluded from the classroom or the yard in situations where other measures have been implemented without success, or where an immediate withdrawal is the only appropriate course of action in response to the student’s behaviour which may put the health, safety and wellbeing of other students, staff or themselves at significant risk.