For our December conversation we will hear from Lurnea High School in Sydney's South West about their Restorative work using Alternatives To Violence as the tool for change.
The title for the conversation is:
The Complementary Nature of Restorative Practices and Alternatives to Violence / Help Increase Peace (AVP / HIP)
Lurnea High school is 60 years old with a complex, diverse, school population including an Intensive English Centre (IIEC), and disability support unit where low socio economic status and intergenerational trauma are strong influences in the wellbeing of the community.
When school staff trained in AVP/HIP it had the Restorative Questions embedded in it and included a special topic workshop on Shame and Restorative Practices.
At Lurnea the Restorative Approach includes:
- Aiming to embed both.... AVP/HIP circle work is an opportunity to practice being and feeling belonging in a community.
- Activities create a fun but thoughtful experiential arena for reflecting on one's impact on others and other's impact on oneself.
- Using AVP/HIP circles with year 7, dysregulated students, students transitioning from IEC to high school, leadership team, different cultural groups (indigenous, Pasifika, Arabic speaking background), Year 6 students about to enter school and Parents
- incorporating diversity in circles (older students with year 7, regulated older students with less regulated, and TEACHERS
Facilitator Bios:
Kate Clarkson has a theatre/drama background and has been teaching at Lurnea for over 25 years - mostly in the Intensive English Centre with newly arrived students working in areas of creative arts (music, drama, creative writing, dance). Kate was interested to find something to encourage a stronger sense of community, communication and conflict transformation in the high school and to help new arrival students transition from IEC into high school.
Deputy Principal Connie Karamitos is listed here on the Restorative Mapping Site