Peacemakers

Our innovative year 6 Peacemakers program is supported by volunteer year 6 students who complete a full day’s training in basic dispute resolution and restorative practice.  These students are then rostered on a rotating schedule to support younger students to resolve small disputes during lunchtime.

Year 6 students apply to be a part of the program and their training includes developing an understanding of the role of a peacemaker as a third party that helps students find reasonable solutions to their problems using a scripted restorative practice approach.  

These problems are usually conflicts where both students are disagreeing with each other or where a student has caused low-level harm to another student either deliberately or accidentally and admitted their wrongdoing or mistakes.  The Peacemakers help students understand the harm done through behaviour and negotiate an agreement. Issues are recorded and teachers notified.  If students are unable to resolve the situation it is referred to the yard duty teacher for further support.

Peacemaker leaders provide valuable support to students in the playground, model dispute resolution practices to their peers, develop their own leadership capacity and take with them lifelong skills for the future.