We have been working with primary schools in the West Midlands for nearly 40 years and have worked with thousands of children in that time.
We know each school is different, so in addition to our established courses listed below, we can work in a more bespoke way, according to the needs of your school.
Putting peace at the heart of your curriculum – this package of support for teachers and children will refresh your circle times through a structured, but flexible approach.
Putting peace at the heart of your curriculum – this package of support for teachers and children will refresh your circle times through a structured, but flexible approach.
Why? Building a culture of peace
See how one school is building peace through their curriculum, ethos and peer mediation scheme.
What’s included?
- A planning day with your SMSC/PSHE lead to help plan regular Peacemaker sessions into your curriculum from Reception to Year 6. Together we will look at your existing plans and other whole school initiatives such as Rights Respecting Schools, Global Learning and Values Education.
- A twilight or half day all staff training to kickstart the project with all staff introducing theory and approaches to all. We also demonstrate effective circle time for all pupils.
- Classroom modelling with pupils. Our trainers will come and run circles in your school, modelling how sessions can be structured and facilitated.
- Classroom mentoring for staff. We will join in a circle facilitated by the class teacher and give constructive feedback. This is an opportunity for staff to ask questions and reflect on their practice.
- Final twilight or half day training provides an opportunity to reflect on the classroom sessions, and build on relevant concepts.
- A copy of the book for every Year group.
Training brings alive the theory and practical aspects of our Learning for Peace resource, so staff are better equipped to put it into practice. By the end of the training, your school will have the tools to be able to build peace in your school through structured circle sessions from Reception to Year 6 through five themes. We work with you to be able to facilitate Peacemaker circles and to understand the purpose and significance of the fun and interactive methods we use to engage pupils.
The whole package can be delivered over half a term.
What people say about Learning for Peace
Support and training to build a peer mediation service in your school.
Children are trained as mediators to help resolve conflicts on the playground. Staff are trained to support the children to make the scheme a success.
Support and training to build a peer mediation service in your school.
Children are trained as mediators to help resolve conflicts on the playground. Staff are trained to support the children to make the scheme a success.
Why?
- Schools consistently report that mediation reduces the amount of staff-time responding to student conflicts, while the mediators themselves enjoy the responsibility.
- Children develop confidence, social and communication skills.
- Children experience the satisfaction of helping their peers.
- Staff have a greater understanding of students’ experiences and relationships.
- Improved student behaviour and opportunities for classroom dialogue.
- Children have an opportunity to resolve conflicts without involving adults.
- Children have the chance to have their point of view heard and understood.
- Children get the chance to find a solution that works for them.
- There is a more peaceful school environment.
Peer Mediation+ is a package of support which takes the work deep into the fabric of the school and is designed to maximise the chance of the scheme being sustainable in the longer term. Peer Mediation training has the greatest impact when it is supported by adults who understand the values that underpin it, and who echo the language used in classrooms, corridors and playgrounds. Peer Mediation+ therefore trains the school staff as well as the pupils.
Our training is approved by the College of Mediators and Civil Mediation Council (CMC).
What’s included?
- Support pack for the school can be downloaded below to help prepare pupils and staff.
- A planning meeting with Peacemakers staff to talk through the process and what is involved.
- A pupil workshop for the year group(s) from which mediators will be selected. This allows those pupils to fully understand what peer mediation is and what they are volunteering for.
- Two twilight sessions with staff to embed the scheme into the fabric of the school.
- Three days of peer mediation training for up to 24 pupils.
- Training for Lunchtime supervisors [1.5 hours].
- Resources to support the Peer Mediation lead.
- A follow up visit from Peacemakers staff after a term or so to see how the scheme has developed and give pointers for further success.
- Invitation to join a network of Peer Mediation leads led by Peacemakers
What people say about Peer Mediation
National Peer Mediation Network training approval
Watch this video of our experience of gaining approval for our training from the College of Mediators.
What are the long-term outcomes?
- Relationships [ie pupil-pupil, staff-staff, staff-pupils, staff-parents] are strengthened in school leading to improved levels of trust and confidence in each other.
- Children develop the skills of mediation and can apply them at school and in their lives. Staff develop a deeper understanding of non-punitive ways of managing conflict, and peace. A shared language is developed between pupils and adults.
- Mediation is reflected in the school’s wider vision with an emphasis on relationships and the modelling of positive behaviour strategies by adults in school.
- There is a transfer of skills – children who use the mediation service to talk through their conflicts, acquire the language and attitudes modelled by the mediators and this impacts on the wider school community.
- Mediation is valued as a key element of a thriving school, with necessary investments made to sustain the project beyond a change in school leadership and beyond our initial funded interventions.
If you’re interested in Peer Mediation+, please contact the office to discuss costs and timings.
Eight, weekly sessions to help children learn peacebuilding skills through circle time.
Pupils develop social and communication skills, emotional literacy and techniques for responding to conflict.
Eight, weekly sessions to help children learn peacebuilding skills through circle time.
Pupils develop social and communication skills, emotional literacy and techniques for responding to conflict.
Peacemaker courses teach children skills for life, develop wellbeing and strengthen relationships in the classroom.
One trainer works with a class for an afternoon a week. Our trainers are highly experienced and will develop a programme according to the needs of the class, drawing on tried and tested techniques and approaches.
Courses are usually 8 weeks. Click on the links for research to support the need for this work.
Becoming Peacebuilders
A course that builds children’s confidence to build peace themselves. Includes: active listening and communication, building healthy friendships, recognising and naming feelings, understanding conflict and how it escalates, learning to resolve conflict.
Year 6 – up you go!
A course designed especially for children in Year 6. It prepares children, socially and emotionally, for their transition into secondary school and helps build confidence. Children learn about safety, making choices, understanding themselves and their identity, recognising their thoughts and feelings and are given space to look ahead to new opportunities. Children have described the course as an ‘adventure into the unknown’.
Peace Explorers – out and about
This course helps nurture peace and wellbeing by helping children explore their thoughts and feelings in the outdoors. The labyrinth is used for reflection and processing, alongside circle games and exploratory team activities. Children learn about cooperation, how being outdoors can help manage ‘big’ emotions, inner peace and health and wellbeing.
RESTORE
This course is restorative in nature and enables a class to spend some nurturing and nourishing time together. All classes can benefit, particularly those experiencing an issue such as a change in staffing, or classroom dynamics, or a wider issue. This course will help children recognise what is happening and think ahead to the future. Children learn to recognise that people respond to situations in different ways, empathise with the different ways in which people respond to things, how to handle their emotions, including big feelings like anger and anxiety, safely, build friendships and look ahead to new opportunities. The course follows the RESTORE framework which Peacemakers was integral in developing – see the link below.
What people say about Peacemaker courses
Click here for a teacher’s reflections on how the Becoming Peacebuilders course impacted two children in her class:
Today there was an incident and to see that he actually didn’t get cross, didn’t have a strop but got on with his work was fantastic.
We don’t get statements like ‘Sam can’t do that’ any more. He is actively participating both in and out of the circle. He is not sitting back.
Excite and motivate your pupils to build peace at school and/or the local community with a one day Junior Peacemakers workshop.
Excite and motivate your pupils to build peace at school and/or the local community with a one day Junior Peacemakers workshop.
Workshop Themes
Our workshop themes encourage pupils to explore Peace Within [Inner Peace]; Peace Between [Peaceful Relationships] and Peace in the world [Peaceful Communities]. Choose from:
- Climate Justice
- A Sense of Belonging – Welcoming refugees and asylum seekers
- Creating a Healthy School – promoting positive mental health
- Thinking about WW1 – Choices then and now
- Change Starts with Us – Taking action against bullying
- It’s not Fair – How can we make a difference?
What are one day Junior Peacemaker Workshops?
These workshops are for a whole Key Stage 2 Year group [up to 3 forms] over a day. You choose the theme and we bring the trainers and resources needed to introduce the theme to your school. Use the day as a springboard for in depth work around the theme after we have left. The days are linked to the UNICEF Rights Respecting Schools Award and the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
What people say about Junior Peacemaker Workshops
Junior Peacemakers Workshop guide
This resource is available to help you run one of our workshops yourself.
Excite and motivate your pupils to build peace at school and/or the local community with a one day Junior Peacemakers workshop.
Excite and motivate your pupils to build peace at school and/or the local community with a one day Junior Peacemakers workshop.
What are Young Peace Ambassadors?
Imagine a team of pupils whose role is to promote peace around school:
- What difference might they make?
- What skills might they develop?
- What impact might they have on the wider school community?
- How might their presence act as a counter to the high levels of anxiety and concern about the world that we know exists amongst children today?
What’s involved?
- A full day workshop for a Yar group on what peace is and how it might manifest in school.
- Follow up training for a small group of Young Peace Ambassadors to lead on the work
- Full support from Peacemakers staff to sustain the scheme.
