This paper examines the introduction of Restorative Approaches (RA) in schools in the UK, contextualising this within a discussion of international concerns about school safety, (in)discipline and school violence. It explores questions about the compatibility of RA with zero tolerance and positive/assertive discipline approaches and the use of disciplinary exclusion in a "risk society" (Beck, 1992; Giddens, 1990). It focuses on the experience of schools in relation to Garland's concern with "the decline of the rehabilitative ideal and the re-emergence of punitive sanctions", to interrogate the pressures on schools to manage unruly behaviour where "policies need to be seen to be tough, smart and popular with the public" (2001, pp.13-14). (Contains 1 figure and 1 note.)