Secondary Management – Restorative Justice in Action 2
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(narrator)
At Whitton School in Twickenham,
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restorative justice is helping to
resolve disputes between students.
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Psychologist Brigid Medlam
spends a day a week at the school.
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Today she's trying to sort out
a simmering row
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between a group of year eight girls
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which is causing serious behaviour
problems and disrupting lessons.
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(Brigid) I'm hoping to help them
stop the circle -
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friends, not friends,
friends, not friends.
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To try and break that, and to try
and help them develop strategies
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not to always exacerbate
the situation.
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(narrator) One girl, Eni, seems to
be regularly on the receiving end.
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But before seeing her, Brigid
wants to meet two other girls,
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Natasha and Hannah,
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after a paint-throwing incident
in an art class.
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There was me, Beka, Chelsea and Eni.
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We saw Eni on her own and thought,
"She can come and sit with us."
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So we called her. We was painting,
and we was all quite hyper.
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And, erm... so Beka put a dot
on my face with paint,
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so I drawed on Chelsea's face.
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And then, Chelsea done it to Eni,
she told on us,
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and then she started shouting at us.
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But the thing is,
we had all done it to each other,
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so it wasn't really meant to be
offensive. So she could just...
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So you were all mucking about
with paint on your face.
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Eni joined in, and suddenly it
became you lot picking on Eni.
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Is that what you're saying?
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Maybe sometimes we presume
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that people are gonna think
the same way as we do, don't we?
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So who are Eni's friends?
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- Sadie, erm...
- She hasn't really got any.
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(Brigid) Do you see the picture?
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This is you lot.
You're a big group, aren't you?
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With lots of people in it.
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Natasha, draw Eni in her group.
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All right.
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And when you're that group, how
do you think that group might look?
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(Natasha) Scary.
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(Brigid) If I had brought Eni
to the meeting with these two girls,
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with the way they were, last week,
she'd have had a terrible time.
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She'd have been on her own in there
to fight her own battle.
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I wasn't prepared to do that.
I wasn't prepared to bring her in
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and make the situation worse.
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Restorative justice
is victim-focused -
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you have to do what's right
for the victim.
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Even though, in school incidents
like this, it's usually 60/40 -
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it's very rarely a clear victim
and a clear offender.
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(narrator) The conferences are based
on the key restorative questions:
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"What happened?"
"Who's been affected?"
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And "How can things be put right?"
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Eni, shall I come
and sit next to you?
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(narrator) Next, Brigid and her
assistant Alison are seeing Eni,
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along with another girl
from the group, Rebeka.
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Right. Good morning, everybody.
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First of all,
can I just say how pleased I am
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that you've managed to get to a
point where we can talk about this.
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And before we start, can I
just make some ground rules?
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They are that we respect each other,
we respect the process,
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we don't interrupt and we
let everybody have their say,
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and last but not least,
that we're truthful.
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- Is that OK with both of you?
- Yeah.
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OK, well, who'd like to start?
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We're talking about
an incident that happened in Art.
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- Who'd like to go first?
- Eni can go first.
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Eni, would you like to go first?
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We were in Art
and I went to sit with
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Natasha and Chelsea and Rebeka.
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We were all sitting drawing when
she put a little splodge on my book.
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That's where it all kicked off,
so she slapped me.
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Right.
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What was it like for you
to be in that position, Eni?
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Not nice,
cos I didn't want to fight.
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I don't like fighting any more.
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Who do you think's been affected
by what's happened?
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Me mostly,
cos I don't go out any more.
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In my point of view, it started off
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when Chelsea put the splodge
of paint in Eni's book.
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And then Natasha did,
and then I did.
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And then she pushed me away
until I hit her.
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And how do you feel about it now?
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I feel bad,
cos I shouldn't have done it.
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- Are you sorry?
- I should apologise.
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And... do you want to tell Eni
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how you've been affected
by what's happened?
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I was affected by her
sitting in Sanction all day,
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and being punished at home as well.
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Rebeka, what do you think you
and Eni can do to make it better?
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Erm...
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stop letting other people stir it up
and just be friends
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and stop all the arguing
and fighting.
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So, do you think that would be
a good place to start,
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that you two won't fight any more?
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(Rebeka and Eni) Yeah.
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"We agree not to..."
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(narrator) Brigid likes to draw up
formal contracts between parties
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to reinforce the agreements about
how they should behave in future.
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(Brigid) Now... how much
of what's happened between you
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do you think has been affected
by the other people around you?
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- (Eni) Lots.
- (Brigid) Lots.
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I mean, can I ask at this point,
do you two want to be friends,
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or do you want to just be able
to get on in class?
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- I want to be friends.
- You want to be friends.
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So it'd be quite good, then,
if we could say:
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ignore the others
and support each other.
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- What do you want, Eni?
- The same.
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- You want the same.
- Yeah.
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Right.
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- Rebeka, do you want to sign it?
- Yeah.
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Where shall I sign it?
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(Brigid) I won't say their
behaviour's gonna change totally,
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but it may help them think about the
implications of what they've done
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a bit more than other methods where
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they're immediately punished
and then feel resentful.
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- Would you like to shake hands?
- Yeah.
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With the other hand.
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Right. I think you've both
done very well,
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and I'm very pleased with
what you've done.
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I think you've done very well.
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Rebeka, I'd like to have a couple
of minutes with Eni on her own.
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- OK.
- So thank you very much.
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- Is that all right with you, Eni?
- Yeah.
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I want to talk to you
about something.
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(Brigid) I used the process
of restorative justice,
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but I also used all my other
communication skills as well.
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You need to sort of modify
what you're doing.
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And yes, I do use a script,
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but it's not in black and white -
I don't follow it to the letter.
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What I tend to do is,
I tend to move it around.
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I tend to look for what would be
appropriate at that time,
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and what wouldn't be
appropriate at that time.
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(narrator) Brigid wants Eni to
meet with more girls from the group.
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- It's a difficult one, isn't it?
- Yeah.
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Cos I can see that...
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I mean, you said to Alison
you didn't want to meet with them.
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Now, that's absolutely fair enough.
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Erm... Do you think you'd feel...
Do you still feel like that,
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or do you think maybe,
having had this meeting with Rebeka,
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you might be able to have
a meeting with them?
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Maybe, yeah.
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But that's the thing, though,
cos Rebeka's much more honest.
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So you don't trust that
the process would work for them?
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No, so I think the process
would work one by one.
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You've been through this experience
with Rebeka.
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- It can be safe.
- Yeah.
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You know, it can be safe.
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I think that's important to say.
How are you feeling now?
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- Something's in my eye.
- Do you want a tissue?
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Yes, please.
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- Have you got one, Al?
- In my bag.
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Can I make a suggestion...
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In your contract with Rebeka,
one of the things you've said
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is that you'll support
each other in school.
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- Yeah.
- Work on that until next week.
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And, remember,
you have got Rebeka there.
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- Who are your other friends?
- I've got loads.
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Yeah. So you have got friends
that you can be with.
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Yeah.
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There always has to be someone
that pushes them away from you,
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but I don't mind, cos I've got
other friends as well, so...
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Oh, Eni...
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And you've come a long way today.
You really have.
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- Absolutely.
- You've come a long way.
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You've taken the mature option.
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And let's organise a meeting
with Natasha,
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and we'll take it from there.
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- OK.
- OK?
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(narrator) Later in the day, Natasha
also agrees to meet up with Eni.
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Natasha, do you want to come in?
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(narrator) Now, Brigid plans
to dig a little deeper
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into the underlying
causes of the conflicts.
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Natasha, do you want to sit...?
I'll bring the chair round.
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I just feel, both of you,
there's unsaid things going on.
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Am I right?
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The other week, erm... this...
my cousin came in.
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She was crying that she was scared
and didn't want to go to school
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cos she thought
she was going to get beaten up.
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She wouldn't do that over
no situation, cry for no reason.
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- (Brigid) Right.
- (Eni) But that's the thing.
0178 10:10:04:06 10:10:08:00
All the year sixes
and all of the other people as well
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have been saying to me that Alex,
Natasha's cousin,
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"has been going up to your sister
and bullying your sister."
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(Brigid) So...
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I just said.. I wasn't going to beat
her up, cos I know how it feels,
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but I just said to her,
"If you beat up my sister,
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I'm going to get someone
to beat you up" -
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which isn't true, cos I wasn't.
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But can you see, it's involving
all these other people, isn't it?
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And what's going on between you two
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is being affected by
all these other people.
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Can you... I mean, that is something
that seems certain to me.
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- Would you agree with that?
- Yeah.
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- Would you agree with that?
- Yeah.
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Right. So how are you
both feeling now?
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- Eni?
- Not good.
0194 10:10:57:24 10:10:59:20
- You're not feeling good.
- No.
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- Natasha, how are you feeling?
- Normal.
0196 10:11:02:10 10:11:08:02
You're feeling normal. Eni, what
can we do to make you feel better?
0197 10:11:09:15 10:11:12:16
- I don't know.
- You don't know. Right.
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So what are we gonna do for you two?
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What I'd like to suggest is
that we make a contract...
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What do either of you think
you can do for the other one
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to help this situation get better?
0202 10:11:28:03 10:11:31:02
- (Natasha) I don't know.
- You don't know. Eni?
0203 10:11:31:02 10:11:33:02
Erm...
0204 10:11:34:08 10:11:37:15
to always, like you said,
0205 10:11:37:15 10:11:40:06
get the facts right
before you judge other people.
0206 10:11:40:06 10:11:45:02
(Brigid) Can we put that one down,
Natasha? "Get the facts right." OK?
0207 10:11:45:02 10:11:47:22
It's more important
how we move forward.
0208 10:11:47:22 10:11:49:22
That's what I would like to happen.
0209 10:11:49:22 10:11:52:07
- Can you accept that one?
- Yeah.
0210 10:11:52:07 10:11:54:07
So let's put that down.
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"It's more important...
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how we move forward."
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Do you think you two can see
something positive out of it? Eni?
0214 10:12:12:17 10:12:15:11
Yeah, because at the end
of the day...
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we'll either get on with each other
or we won't talk to each other,
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but we'll understand
that we shouldn't...
0217 10:12:24:10 10:12:27:24
we shouldn't judge other people
before we can get the facts right.
0218 10:12:28:24 10:12:32:12
What can you see that you've got
out of this that's been positive?
0219 10:12:32:12 10:12:38:02
I know Eni's point of view now,
so it's better,
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and then we can be friends.
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Is it that you want to be friends?
0222 10:12:43:12 10:12:45:18
- Yeah, I do.
- Yeah.
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Do you want to shake hands?
0224 10:12:49:16 10:12:53:08
Well done.
Well done, girls, honestly!
0225 10:12:54:16 10:12:58:23
Gosh. I don't know about you two,
but I'm exhausted.
0226 10:13:00:05 10:13:03:17
- How are you feeling? Eni?
- Yeah, I'm all right now.
0227 10:13:03:17 10:13:06:03
(narrator) Senior management
believe Brigid's work
0228 10:13:06:03 10:13:08:24
is greatly improving
pupils' behaviour.
0229 10:13:08:24 10:13:10:15
But it takes time,
0230 10:13:10:15 10:13:14:04
and today's sessions will need to be
followed up in the weeks ahead.
0231 10:13:14:04 10:13:15:06
Bye, girls.
0232 10:13:15:06 10:13:20:13
(Brigid) The cathartic effect
in this scenario was very valuable,
0233 10:13:20:13 10:13:23:03
and it is the "meat and two veg"
of what I do.
0234 10:13:23:03 10:13:27:16
I mean, I do incidents like that
all the time.
0235 10:13:27:16 10:13:30:09
And what I sometimes say
to the kids,
0236 10:13:30:09 10:13:33:17
cos they don't always understand
what restorative justice is,
0237 10:13:33:17 10:13:35:21
I say, "I'm a bit like
a Relate counsellor."
0238 10:13:35:21 10:13:39:16
"I'm trying to get you two to work
together, to be in school together."
0239 10:13:39:16 10:13:42:00
So that they're happier
to be in school,
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and that what they're doing isn't
affecting other people in class.
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Visiontext subtitles
by Stephanie Donohue
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