Transcript

ELIZABETH JAMES

We had the aim of the sixth form being an aspirational place where there were no limits to what the students could achieve. Each of the students, having discovered his or her own pathway.

MEL BRUCE

So I think the difference with Bacon’s two other schools was that they asked us to, train a group of sixth form students, which we’ve never done before, we’ve always trained uniform students in the past. And so we was unsure. But to be honest, it’s it’s the best thing to do. And I think the sixth formers have got the free periods. And we could also take them out to the community and work on cases there too.

STUDENT

And it was quite exciting with something new. No one really knew what we were getting us into. So my strongest memory would have been that that day when they came and did the speech for us sixth formers to join mediation.

DAVE WALKER

We’re conscious that in schools, disputes happen all the time. Bullying takes place. People fall out with friends, fights take place. It becomes a very difficult situation because you’re not prepared to stand down. You’re not prepared to lose face, and that becomes difficult. Ultimately, what happens then? If it gets too heavy, people get excluded. The objective for this project is to train 16 people as apprentice mediators so they set up their own project within the school.

DILEK HALIL

I think people were like fascinated to see what was happening in. So they wasn’t afraid to come to us because they wanted to see what it was. I was actually really surprised that the reception that we got and how sort of the whole school folded into it and really took it on board.

DAVE WALKER

This course is about learning about yourself. So whatever happens today, you’ve all said that you can take something away from that. Okay. So it’s not for those for everybody about winning or losing. It’s about the skills that you’ve learned and how you feel about certain situations now.

JAMES AFOLAYAN

Having a mediation service has been incredibly useful. It means that a lot of the low level-- arguments between students can be addressed very simply, and restorative justice can be in place. And then if that is in place, then we can work on some of the more challenging long standing issues.

LOUISA HARRIS

Even from very from from from that point of view, something that seems very big. It can then be kind of, reduced, to have something that’s a bit more manageable. And then, like I said, so they can be resolved and they can move on from the situation.

JAMES AFOLAYAN

A lot of things which I would have to mediate with the students have been done by experienced students and obviously made my workload a little bit lighter.

YASMIN VAUGHN-WILLIAMS

It’s not as limited as other opportunities are to deal with the situation in this, like in mediation. You know, we try to get the students to talk more first. So it’s an opportunity for them to say how they feel, to speak up about what they think personally. And, you know, it’s an opportunity for them to not do it when all the other students are around who are going to make it more crazy, more hyped up. So for the students, it’s definitely a big opportunity of how to deal with it in their own way, in the way that benefits them the best.

LOUISA HARRIS

I don’t believe any of the Year 8s who’ve had mediation have come away sort of negatively about it.

HARRY KINGSBURY

Every time I go into mediation and that it always works and but there’s never been once that it hasn’t worked. I don’t want to. Not like we follow the rules or not like we do what we’re asked to do? If there were more rules we would probably follow it. And, it’s just a good thing to have, because if we don’t have that, then there’ll be fights on occasions all the time.

SERENA IBO

They help you to not get angry easily and give you advice. And when they say, whatever stays in this room stays in this room they mean it.