Discussion took place at the meeting with the governors regarding the explanation of Restorative Practice conferencing and how this could be used in this instance in order to avoid the permanent exclusion of a vulnerable young woman. Governors liked the idea and therefore overturned the permanent exclusion in favour of a long fixed term exclusion in order for a Restorative Practice Conference to take place.
Initially the traveller Mum was insistent she came to the conference but it was felt that she may not be the right person to support her daughter in this situation. The traveller liaison officer was contacted because she had a good relationship with the family and she agreed to work with the conference facilitators to enable this to go ahead and keep the family on board. This happened by working with the family to give them a better understanding and agreeing to support T in the conference, also A had a supporter from school because both girls expressed a wish for Mum’s not to be involved.
The conference went ahead as planned and all involved thought that it went very well. The girls seemed relieved that a line had been drawn in the sand with regards to the incident, and happy with both the process and the outcome. There were apologies, shame, guilt, acknowledgement of responsibility and remorse displayed by them both.
When the incident was unpicked there was some history of A constantly taunting T about her ethnicity, T Understood that she should not have attacked A but in her culture this is how things are sorted out. She left the meeting realising that there is another way to deal with conflict and she agreed to take steps to manage her anger in future.
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