Restorative
Schools

Manaakitia te tangata, ahakoa ko wai, ahakoa no hea.

Treat people respectfully, irrespective of who they are and where they come from.

Our Vision

At Restorative Schools, we envision strong, healthy, and thriving schools, workplaces, and communities. Our mission is to build, enhance, and restore relational cultures that empower individuals and foster connection.

Building, Enhancing, and Restoring Relational Cultures

Restorative Practice is more than a methodology—it’s a philosophy that places positive, respectful relationships at the heart of the educational experience. Our approach emphasizes the importance of a reparative social climate, transforming how we build, maintain, restore and sustain relationships.
The heartbeat of our homes, schools, communities and workplaces is rooted in the relationships we cultivate.

To establish a solid foundation, we must incorporate essential building blocks like openness, honesty, and manaaki (care). When harm occurs within these relationships, we believe in the power of participation, korero (conversation), and thoughtful, genuine consideration for everyone involved to facilitate healing and restoration.

Restorative Schools is dedicated to nurturing these connections, weaving resilient threads into the fabric of our communities.

Who We Are...

Founded in 2007 by Greg Jansen and Rich Matla, Restorative Schools has been at the forefront of promoting restorative practices across Aotearoa New Zealand for over 17 years.

Through the time they have had the privilege of working ‘with’ hundreds of schools/educational contexts and thousands of staff. Our founders have extensive experience in coaching, mentoring, and facilitating support in educational environments ranging from early childhood to tertiary education and the wider community and workplaces.

Greg and Rich’s expertise extends beyond schools; they have also contributed to organizational design and leadership development across New Zealand, Australasia, South East Asia, South America, and Norway. Their diverse backgrounds in classroom teaching, pastoral care, governance, resource development, and policy oversight inform our holistic approach.

As contributing authors of Responsive Pedagogy: Engaging Restoratively with Challenging Behaviour and the World Encyclopaedia of Restorative Justice, Greg and Rich are passionate advocates for transforming educational environments into nurturing spaces where all individuals can thrive.

What We Do

Flourishing relationships
+
Connected and Empowered individuals
+
Resilient communities
+
Thriving and Equitable organisations

Since 2007, our focus has primarily been within education, but we have expanded our mahi (work) to supporting communities, workplaces, and organizations. Our relational approach is grounded in a belief in the equality, dignity, and potential of every person.

In educational settings we help foster strong relational learning cultures, through living out a restorative philosophy. This approach directly connects to enhanced student success. Restorative practices in schools operate as a continuum from high-end conferencing around serious misconduct and harm through to the very low level everyday interactions students and teachers have with one another.

We are committed to tailored and bespoke approaches to training and support.  We understand the need to work alongside and co design with schools and their senior leadership teams as they navigate a whole school approach. We align our language and approaches with the unique context of each school to resonate with their unique identity and values. We are committed to growing capability and capacity to ensure sustainability.
This approach nurtures a culture of care, promoting the core values and expectations that schools and organizations stand upon.

Contact Us

FOOTNOTE

Yes!

We provide training,
We provide coaching,
We provide relational culture audits,
We provide strategic direction and implementation support,
We provide relational leadership support and development,
We provide support around high level incidents – staff / students / whānau (family),
We provide support to grow students and parent understanding & induction,
We support Boards of Trustees and governance.
We support teams to move from dysfunctional to thriving and from ‘good to great’.
We build learning opportunities to meet your unique needs.
We work in partnership with you, your team  and your community

Contact Us

Rich
Matla

“I am passionate about enhancing relational cultures in schools, workplaces and communities”

 

Encouraging, restoring, communicating

Rich Matla has a long established background and diverse roles in the education sector ranging from extensive classroom teaching experience, pastoral care and middle management, to school governance, resource development and policy oversight.

 

Leadership Lab Consultant

Rich works as a consultant in the Leadership Lab Grow Waitaha project and the Cultural capability in Aotearoa kura project where he works with teachers to develop their competence and confidence in culturally sustaining practices.

He also works as a consultant, coach, trainer, mentor in a range of settings in both NZ and abroad, with a particular focus on Relational Practices and Cultures. He is a Senior consultant in restorativeschools.org.nz, that has seen him work with over a thousand primary and secondary schools in New Zealand and deliver training and development work in Australia, Singapore, and Norway. He is passionate and committed to the needs of young people and their development, to the professional growth of teachers, educators and staff groups, and to the quality of workplace cultures and environments.

Rich held the role as Chairperson of the Board of Trustees at Heathcote Valley Primary School from 2012 -2018, a role that during that period had focus on school redesign and rebuild post Earthquake, on enhancing teaching practice and collaboration and forging strong educational partnerships between school and whanau and the wider school community.

He has also worked as an artist and designer, travelled extensively, been an aid worker, International Tour company leader and guide and brings this creativity and energy to any role he takes on.

Greg
Jansen

I am passionate about developing the potential and capability of the people I work alongside”

Connecting, motivating, activating …

Greg works across the education sector from early childhood through to secondary school environments throughout New Zealand, Singapore and Malaysia. With a focus on developing robust relational culture in school communities, this has expanded into school / community strategic and leadership development, whole school change and wider cluster development as well as specific skill training.

Greg works actively with principals, lead teams and change makers providing mentoring and coaching opportunities to support them to challenge thinking, deepen understanding, and develop practical future focused pathways, for themselves, their schools and wider community impact. He frequently co-designs and delivers specific projects and learning opportunities for leaders, teams and whole school communities.

He is passionate about developing the potential and capability in those he works with, and has a wealth of experience both teaching and leading within and beyond mainstream education.

Greg has working extensively with NZ Ministry of Education supporting them in resource development, training and programme design.

Resources

The following resources are readily available for purchase and use to support the mahi in your schools and workplaces.

Please contact us for further details:

The Sorry Bridge

Diagram of the 'Sorry, Sorry, Sorry' concept

Restorative Archway

Diagram outlining the phases

Restore Bookmark

Great reminder tool for 'on the spot' scenarios

Facilitated Conversations

A4 guide to managing the process

Connection before correction

Poster showing key quadrants

Restorative Matrix

Outline 2pp A4 doc

Restore Bridge diagram

The 'face to face' stages

Join Us

Together, let’s build a brighter future through restorative practices.

By prioritizing respectful relationships, we can create an educational experience where everyone thrives. Explore our training opportunities, resources, and insights as we work together to cultivate thriving communities.

For more information, reach out to us today!