This paper explores some key findings from the recent two-year evaluation of a national pilot to introduce Restorative Practices (RP) in Scottish schools. A Restorative approach emphasises the human wish to feel safe, to belong, to be respected and to understand and have positive relationships with others. It recognises the fundamental importance in schools of both effective support and clear control and boundaries. Restorative Practices comprise key principles and values, skills and strategies on a continuum ranging from whole school approaches to those used in more challenging situations or with individual students in difficulty. The effectiveness of the implementation of whole school and preventative Restorative Practices is explored elsewhere. In this article, the author focuses on the possibilities for change offered by RP to young people who experience significant difficulties in school; who are underachieving, disruptive, disaffected or disconnected from the experience of school.