PASTORAL REPORT 2010

Pastoral care of students at St Thomas' has gone through significant change. St Thomas' has always had a restorative philosophy based on the values embedded by the Christian Brothers who formed the school. The restorative philosophy and values have now meant that St Thomas' has become a restorative school.

Restorative justice is a relationship based philosophy. When a wrong is committed instead of the offender being held accountable against the state or school he is found accountable to the person or people against whom he has offended. All affected people are brought together and along with the offender come up with a set of appropriate consequences.

Restorative Justice at St Thomas' was started with an initial introduction by Alison Locke from the Ministry of Education to the pastoral team. This was followed up by a group of 5 staff attending a 3 day intensive conference by Margaret Thorsborne on "Restorative Practices in schools: Rethinking Behaviour Management". As a staff we went through significant cultural change led by the Pastoral team. This was followed by whole staff professional development. As a result, St Thomas' has seen major reductions in stand downs, suspensions and exclusions, (see variance report for statistics) and increases in student honesty, greater staff ownership of pastoral matters and student empowerment. 

In 2010 we will be a Restorative Justice School with restorative justice included in our strategic plan and whole school behaviour management plan. This year a further 8 staff attended restorative justice facilitators 3 day conference to increase the presence of trained restorative justice facilitators in our school community this takes the total number of staff trained to 18.

Last year significant restructuring in our pastoral staff took place to further strengthen our restorative philosophy which is based on strong relationships This will continue in 2010. Horizontal form groups were replaced with vertical forms and form tutors to increase relationships between students across all year levels and form tutor student relationships. Horizontal deans were replaced with vertical house deans once again to further strengthen student teacher relationships especially for our at risk students. We have already seen positive outcomes in the short term and look forward to further positive long term outcomes.

In 2010 we implemented a fortnightly progress report system in which students gained a grade from 1 to 5 based on their effort and work habits. Students who "average" less than three for the fortnight are supported intensively by their house dean. Meetings are arranged with the student, dean, and caregivers where the group set goals which the student focuses on for the two week period.

This year we have implemented a quarterly mentoring interview with all senior students. All Yr 11, 12 and 13 students once a term meet with their form tutor who facilitates a 15 minute interview whereby the student sets goals for the term and these goals are reviewed at the start of the following term. The senior students have found these interviews of tremendous value and all senior students now have a forum to be supported and heard.

A strength in our pastoral system is the number of the student leadership opportunities. These empower our students and give them a voice in the running of the college. All leadership opportunities provide real service to the school community and all students in these roles are provided with leadership development. Some examples of student leadership include our senior leadership team made up of Yr 13 students, who are voted by staff, and peers and are interviewed by senior management. These students gain significant leadership training through a three day camp in Hanmer which is co-ordinated by the Senior Management Team and by attending the Edmund Rice schools' leadership course in Auckland which teaches the boys many aspects of leadership. Senior students at St Thomas' also have leadership opportunities through the Maori and Pasifika councils, Big Brothers and peer tutoring. For our junior students there are significant opportunities in leadership including the school council which has a major influence on the running of the school. Alongside the school council we also have a HIP committee (health in peers), and peer mediators.

St Thomas' pastoral system has a proactive and restorative philosophy. Students know if they make mistakes they will be held accountable but also maintain their dignity.

Mr Steve Hart ( Deputy Principal)

 

BEHAVIOUR MANAGEMENT PROGRAMME

1 Restorative Chat

Facilitated by Subject Teacher in class or outside of room

(Students, Teachers)Used for persistent disruptive behaviour. Student asked to wait outside classroom for 5 mins or spoken to at end of lesson ALSO FOR

Lateness, Lack of equipment, incorrect uniform, Incomplete homework.

2 Peer Mediation

Facilitated by Trained Student Mediators

3 Restorative Chat

If it is inappropriate to facilitate a restorative chat in class or outside of room, student can be referred to restorative room BUT it is the subject teacher's responsibility to facilitate a restorative chat in the restorative room.

4 Small Group Conference

Facilitated by House Co-ordinators

(Teacher, Student, SCT, Counsellors)

 Used for a student withdrawal from class, after a restorative chat has occurred and disruptive behaviour continues.

5 Family Conference

Facilitated by Senior Dean

(Affected Teachers, Students and Counsellor)

Used for repeated withdrawals within a ter

6 Community Group Conference

Facilitated by Deputy Principal

(Affected parties, Principal, Police if appropriate)

Used for continued offences or unsafe and anti-social behaviour.

7 Board of Trustees Conference

Facilitated by Deputy Principal

(Affected parties, BOT representative, Principal)