Betrayed confidence; changing social, academic, or athletic priorities; new peer groups; demands at home – these are all major drivers of conflict between students. While teachers and administrators may not witness the first spark of relationship breakdown between friends, they do see the effects as conflicts escalate through social media posts, rumours, social exclusion, bullying, and even physical violence.

In a restorative school, students, teachers, and administrators draw on the principles of restorative practice when relationship breakdown contributes to conflict, fighting, bullying and other harmful behaviours.

Instead of looking to punish, teachers and administrators ask: What happened? Who has been affected? What needs to happen to make things right? Students are empowered to participate and account for harmful behaviours in the reparation of harm.