Hobsonville Point Secondary School has made a promise: no student will ever be kicked out (file photo).

There aren't any rules at Hobsonville Point Secondary School.

No student will ever be suspended or excluded. That would be "giving up" on them – and the school won't do that, principal Maurie Abraham says.

Instead, the Auckland school uses a restorative justice model.

Where other schools have lists of rules on everything from garters and grooming to cell phone use, Hobsonville Point has a set of "expectations".

They are "Right place, right time", "Ready and focused", "Respect self, respect others and respect resources".

"That's basically it," Abraham says.

No detentions for being late, no writing lines for being disrespectful, no lunchtimes sitting outside the principal's office for playing up.

When expectations aren't met, the questions are around the effect that's had on other people.

"It's about putting the focus on harm that has been caused to a relationship rather than on just breaking a rule," Abraham says.

Teacher and student will explore the behaviour using a set of questions: What happened? What was the motivation? Who was impacted?

The next question is: So what do you think about it now? Nine times out of 10, students are quick to realise their behaviour was "pretty stupid", Abraham says.

From there, they'll talk through what the student wants to do about it, and whether they need any support to set things right.

In more serious cases, this might mean getting families in for a conference, but often the process is resolved by the student recognising what was wrong with their behaviour.

Abraham says he was seeing a lot of suspensions at his previous school, Opotiki College, but it wasn't making any headway on poor behaviour. That was when he first became interested in restorative practice.

So he put an end to suspensions there. It was a tough sell to parents – especially when it came to dealing with bullies.

"Often the community wants the worst kids hurled out onto the street," he says.

Changing that attitude took a lot of work. Often, it wasn't until people went through the process that they understood it.

Bringing families together is "really powerful", he says. Commitments are made, tears are shed, hugs are shared; once someone has been involved in that, "you've got another convert".

At Hobsonville Point, restorative practice is the only model that's been used since the school opened in 2014.

It can take some getting used for new students, Abraham says. A traditional, punitive approach encourages children to lie about their behaviour to avoid punishment, and students moving to the school can bring this attitude with them.

Once they realise they'll be "treated like adults" and won't be kicked out, they're much more honest, he says.

"I can't think of any times when it hasn't been successful to some extent."

Restorative practice is part of the Ministry of Education's Positive Behaviour for Learning (PB4L) programme, used in 174 schools nationwide.

An evaluation of the initiative in May found schools using the programme had seen an "extremely positive impact" on their school culture.

Interview participants reported improved behavioural and educational outcomes as a result of keeping students in class, or at school, rather than removing them as a "quick fix".

Students said they felt respected, listened to, and that the school environment was calmer.

Abraham agreed with the positive evaluation of the programme: "In my experience it's the only model I've come across that has any chance of being successful".