RESTORATIVE NORTHTAS NEWS - 21 August 2015

Hi Everyone,

I hope you have had a good week. And please feel free to share this Newsletter with friends and colleagues. The preferred way of joining the email list seems to be by sending a request to ivan.webb@bigpond.com.

1. An individual reflection exercise

Just for your own personal refection you might think about the following questions:

• How many circles were you involved in this week? As a "circle keeper"? As a participant?
• How many times did you ask a restorative question?
• What insights did you gain from your restorative practice this week?

• About someone you work with?
• About yourself?
• Your school or organisation?
• Your community?

• How do your answers compare with those of a trusted colleague / team member?
• What will you have in mid for next week?

If you are a team leader you might consider using some of these questions as discussion starters.

If you are part of a PBS team, it could be interesting to gather some school-wide stats.

2. This week online with Restorative NorthTas

Several more people have joined the email network. Thankyou for your interest. As a result your will continue to receive these Newsletters and other information to keep you in touch with activities and developments.

Several new postings have been added to our Facebook site. As well as covering a range of applications of restorative practices (crime, education, parenting...) the postings also illustrate how the use of Restorative Practices is geographically widespread: India, Fiji, US, UK...

And I have added a couple of articles to the Restorative NorthTas blog

• What is it that Restorative Practices actually restore
• Understanding the "outcomes" of a restorative processes

John Lennox recommends this great TED Talk on the Neuroscience of Restorative Justice.

Please note that there are also numerous other videos on Restorative Justice and Restorative Practice on TED, Youtube, presentations in Slideshare and graphics on Pintrest.

Also during the week I came across this brief but profound video on the often unknown need for Empathy. - Great discussion starter!!

And teachers, don't forget the Restorative Schools online newspaper that comes out each Friday around lunchtime.

Finally these Newsletters will be added to the Restorative NorthTas blog as they are published each week.