Our school operates a school buddy system at lunchtimes and playtimes.
We are a small and friendly school with a family environment and we encourage those family values by giving all children the opportunity to become a playground buddy when they are in Year 2. The benefits of the system so far have been:
- to encourage children to take responsibility
- to actively care for and look out for other children
- to try and ensure that all children are free from loneliness or isolation at playtimes and lunchtimes
- to encourage children to form a variety of friendships with both older and younger pupils
- to encourage participation in a variety of traditional and modern playtime games and activities
- to encourage high levels of self esteem and confidence in all our pupils as valued members of our school family
School buddies work in threes each playtime and lunchtime. There is a rota in operation. Each buddy is identified by wearing a buddy hat. They assist in many ways, some of these are:
- helping children who have fallen over
- getting out and putting away playtime equipment
- sorting out playground disagreements fairly
- encouraging shy children to join in or simply keeping them company
- alerting staff when there are problems
- setting a good example by caring for others
