About Connect RP

What is Restorative Practice?

Restorative Practice is a values-based philosophy which honours the understanding that we are profoundly relational, interconnected and inherently good. Restorative practice has its roots in indigenous communities, even in Ireland in Brehon Law when people would work in community. The relational practices and explicit language aim to consciously build relationships and respond to harm /conflict in a way that honours relationships which CONNECTs us to our best selves and to one another.

Relational thinking is key - encouraging high expectations to be our own best self and offering the support and care we need to reach this potential. The intention is to develop a culture of empathy, care, respect and accountability that allows people to flourish and connect in community. 

Within our schools, RP is about creating relational learning communities and cultivating whole-school preferred practices that honour this understanding. Restorative Practice is not an ‘add on’ but a way to CONNECT the educational dots - restorative pedagogy scaffolds the acquisition of key skills, honours the student voice and develops collaborative methodologies for effective teaching and learning. It builds life skills, facilitates oral language development, develops emotional and conflict literacy, cultivates communication skills such as active listening and authentic sharing, and ignites many of the indicators of Wellbeing and the SPHE strands as outlined in my RP for Students curriculum programmes.