Hikoitanga tapuwae o te hunga ke To take a walk in another’s shoes Using process drama to teach the underlying principles of restorative practice. An increasing number of schools in New Zealand are changing the way they work with at risk students by adopting a restorative approach to anti- social behaviour. Challenges are on-going for schools and educational leaders who wish to implement restorative practice in their schools, since this requires on –going education for students, teachers and parents in this more democratic way of working. This study looks at the impact on student understandings of restorative principles during five weeks of teaching process drama in a New Zealand Middle school. The teaching described in this short term intervention occurred within this school’s on –going programme of professional development and teaching in restorative practice. Prior to the study, whole staff professional development in restorative practice had occurred and a restorative drama programme had been piloted with a group of year 8 students. For this study, the programme was repeated with a class that reflected the cultural socio-economic and ability levels of the school as a whole. The purpose of this small scale study was to produce findings to inform the on-going development and enhancement of the programme, which is to be implemented school wide in 2012. The teacher researcher in this study worked closely with the classroom teacher who acted as a critical friend and mentee. Data was collected through mixed methods and a critical ethnographic lens was applied. After the five week drama intervention findings indicated that levels of anti-social behaviour had decreased especially around swearing and name calling. Students and teachers reported shifts in their understandings of what it must be like to be another. As relationships developed within the drama, data indicated high levels of student engagement, inclusion of marginalised students and academic achievement via quality writing developed. It was noted that students wrote for longer and their writing demonstrated depth of quality particularly those students who were often reluctant or disengaged during formal writing sessions. Further and perhaps most significant of all, findings showed that both the classroom teacher and teacher researcher were prompted to reflect on their own restorative and pedagogical practices.