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How can school leaders, Local Authorities and others encourage the use of relational and restorative practice in their schools? How has this successfully been done in Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, and Portsmouth? What theory and research underpin this work? What are the benefits of this approach?

We will share how relational practice in schools has evolved over time and been successfully implemented in schools in Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, and Portsmouth through the development of the Relational and Restorative School Leadership Programme, supported by The Restorative Lab.

Bec Mason (Portsmouth City Council), Clare Pike (Oxfordshire County Council), Laura East (Oxfordshire County Council), and Molly Macleod (Gloucestershire County Council) will share stories and examples of how relational and restorative practices have been used in schools in their areas.  

Dr Anna Gregory (The Restorative Lab) will present the ethos and framework behind this exciting programme including the evolution of theory and practice informed by research. 

The event will end with a time for questions and discussion.

This online event will be held on Zoom. You can register on Eventbrite, with variable ticket prices available. Please pay as you are able so that we have the resources to continue to hold these types of events:

£10 (e.g. employed professional/government/academic/large organisation)

£5 (e.g. employed by a small charity)

Free (e.g. student/volunteer/don’t have the resources to pay for a ticket)

(Please note: Many employers will cover the cost of this event as CPD. If you would like to book a place for you or team member(s) and paying by invoice is easier than by card, please contact us and we can invoice you instead!)

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Dr Anna Gregory is a skilled facilitator, trainer, and researcher with extensive experience leading peace education projects and implementing relational and restorative culture change programmes in schools and Local Authority teams (SEND, Education, and Educational Psychology). With over 13 years of experience supporting schools across the UK and Europe in developing relational approaches, Anna specialises in whole-school strategies informed by peace-focused restorative practices.

As a researcher, Anna specialises in participatory action research (PAR), particularly involving children as co-researchers. She is also deeply interested in how restorative approaches can challenge and inform more traditional research methodologies.  

Anna is one of the co-founders and co-director of The Restorative Lab, an organisation dedicated to transforming schools and organisations by offering high-quality training, consultancy, evaluation, and facilitation services in relational and restorative practices. The Restorative Lab is an approved training provider with the Restorative Justice Council (RJC).

Bec Mason is the Relational and Restorative Practice in Schools Implementation Lead for Portsmouth (UK) and is delighted to be part of the relationships revolution our world so clearly needs. Bec is well practised in working with others to see the transformational impact of this approach in education, social work, safeguarding, sex offender treatment, parenting, in the Local Authority, with leaders and in the community.

Clare Pike worked as a class teacher and senior leader in a range of secondary then primary schools from 2001 until 2019 when she joined the Local Authority.  In her school leadership roles, Clare was driving school improvement with children’s views always at the centre of decision-making.  Clare met Molly Macleod (Head of Restorative Practice at Gloucestershire County Council) via the National Network of Restorative Practitioners when rolling out restorative practice to schools as Lead for Learner Engagement at Oxfordshire County Council.  This resulted in a plan being hatched to trial Gloucestershire’s Trauma-Informed Relational Practice (TIRP) programme in Oxfordshire. 

Clare currently works as the Head of Oxfordshire Virtual School and is a fierce advocate for Restorative Practice in Oxfordshire.

Laura East works for Oxfordshire County Council as the Relational Schools Programme Lead and a SEND Early Intervention Officer. She is a trained Restorative Practitioner, as well as a qualified teacher and SENDCo. Laura’s career has been in primary teaching, with a focus on Early Years and SEND, as well as safeguarding and school leadership. She also worked in Oxfordshire’s Virtual School as the Extended Duties Officer, offering advice and support for children with a social worker and previously cared for children.

The Relational Schools Programme in Oxfordshire began in 2023, and now has 4 cohorts enrolled on the programme.

Molly Macleod is passionate about equity, inclusion and enabling everyone to have a voice. After completing her teaching qualification in 1996, Molly worked alongside disadvantaged and vulnerable young people. She was introduced to Restorative Practice in 2016 and quickly gained an affinity with its ethos and principles. Since then, she has been working alongside a number of schools within Gloucestershire; implementing Relational and Restorative Approaches to support their inclusion offer and enable young people to re-engage in their learning. Molly is also working with schools, health, and education professionals to embed a Trauma Informed Relational Practice offer in Gloucestershire which forms part of a broader Relational Schools programme.

Molly co-chairs the National Network for Restorative Practice in Education, a network of practitioners working in Local Authorities across the UK who are adopting this approach. She supports a number of other Local Authorities to implement the approach across their education systems and is currently working with the University of Gloucestershire to embed this way of working in their initial teacher training offer. In addition to this, she has contributed to several research publications promoting Relational, Trauma Informed and Restorative approaches in Education, across the UK and beyond.