“When you help someone it can make the world be a better place”

Celebrating success

“We’ve known for many years the students benefit and respond better to being mediated and spoken to by their peers rather than adults at times of crisis or disagreement,” Clive Rockcliff, Headteacher, Seven Hills School.

Since 2005, Seven Hills School, has trained students to be peer mediators. It’s a great achievement to maintain a peer mediation scheme for this length of time but is particularly exciting in this school, which caters for children with special educational and complex needs. We’ve worked with Seven Hills to create this short film to celebrate how the peer mediators make a difference.

An inclusive scheme, embedded in school culture

Melanie Turner, the Peer Mediation Coordinator, told us that they make sure that every student who wants to become a peer mediator can be one. “Whatever barriers they face, we make sure to overcome those barriers so that they can be part of the peer mediator team,” she told CRESST, “and we use a lot of shadowing as part of our training.” They have young people who continue to be peer mediators for several years and take an active role in showing new mediators the ropes.

The school has developed the role of mediators to include an element of befriending. This has increased the reach of the scheme and helps the school to promote an inclusive culture where everyone is able to make friends and join in. Being a peer mediator is a positive development role for students, and Melanie told us, they all say that it’s been a life-changing experience for them.

The annual student survey continues to report that 60% – 70% of students say that a peer mediator has helped them that year. This is a well-used and valuable service in the school!

Using Makaton to increase accessibility

Makaton is a language programme that uses symbols and signs to enable people to communicate. Makaton is mainly used by students with more complex needs at Seven Hills School. To support them, staff have developed additional mediation resources in Makaton, for example prompt cards. An unexpected benefit of this has been that students who don’t need to use Makaton, have engaged with it as a live language for mediation practice. This has a positive impact for inclusive communication within the school as a whole.

“The power that comes with the red fleece is still there!”

Seven Hills have kept the mediation service going through the pandemic, with mediators working within their bubbles and whole team meetings held on online. “The power that comes with the red fleece is still there!” Melanie told CRESST, “the scheme is fully embedded in school life, so it made sense to continue it during the current circumstances.” It seems the red fleece is a powerful symbol of reassurance and care, one that helps to continue to promote the school’s inclusive culture even during the coronavirus restrictions.

The work that this school does to ensure peer mediation is inclusive, life-enhancing and accessible is testament to how vital positive peer relationships are in every setting. And their experience opens some valuable questions for any peer mediation scheme:

• How can we make our peer mediator role one that every young person can take on?
• Where are the opportunities for experienced mediators to share what they’ve learned?
• What new resources are needed to support mediation practice?

If you’d like to find out more about the resources and support CRESST can offer to develop peer mediation in your setting, please get in touch with our Programme Director: carolyn@cresst.org.uk

For over twenty years, CRESST has been working with schools, developing practical models to enable children, young people and adults to manage conflict constructively. If you’d like to get our regular update on Handling conflict well, why not join our mailing list? You can sign up here.