The children at Westbourne House School are undoubtedly lucky. We believe in giving children time to play, to run free and have fun with their friends. Their playtime is generous thanks to a class schedule reshuffle that ‘created’ extra play time by cutting lost time between lessons. We believe this free time exploring and getting fresh air helps children to be more creative, focussed in lessons and, most important of all, happy.
However, as every parent knows, the way children spend time with their friends varies enormously. There are those children who are content with one or two friends and those who naturally gather a big group of friends. One of the key roles we play is to nurture our children’s self-esteem and confidence, and encourage friendships.
One of the key ways we do this is via our pastoral initiatives that give children the chance to be mentors to their peers and make that all-important difference to our community. The outcome is fantastic: we are seeing friendships flourishing across year groups, the mentors are thinking about the feelings of others and growing personally from the responsibility.
Playground Pals (Years 3 and 4)
Playground Pals are trained to help children who feel a bit lost and lonely at playtime. They wear high-vis jackets in the playground and carry with them a bag of traditional games.
We invited the Year 3 and 4 children to apply to become a Playground Pal. They took the opportunity very seriously and we had a very high standard of applications. The successful applicants were trained to ensure they understood clearly why their role is important, how to involve other children and how to play the games.
Play dates (Years 4 and 8)
Twice a week this term we have run ‘play dates’ between the Year 4s and the Year 8s. It has been a roaring success and has created a great many new friends across the years, which makes finding a friend to play with at playtime much easier. The play dates have centred around a theme and have included ‘slime science’, a ‘luxury sleepover’ and ‘Bear Grylls exploration’. The ‘rubbish challenge’, involved learning about recycling and making pretty impressive sculptures out recycled materials.
Buddies (Year 6)
The ‘Buddies’ program again twins the benefits of responsibility with ensuring a happy and harmonious morning break experience for all children. ‘Buddies’ are on hand to help pupils who have fallen over, instigate suitable age-appropriate games, encourage shy children to join in or simply keep them company, informing staff when there are problems and setting a good example by caring for others.
At this time of year we aim to ensure that everyone in Year 6 gets at least three opportunities to be a ‘Buddy’ per term and we have been so impressed with how they have risen to the challenge.
Parallel Form Groups
The move up to the new year group in Years 5 and 7 can feel like a big step to many children. To make this feel less daunting, we twin children from Year 6 with Year 5, and Year 8 with Year 7. The old children act as mentors, help the younger ones to get to grips with their new responsibilities and generally look out for their younger friends.
Friends (Year 8)
‘Friends’ are Year 8 children who are trained to be counsellors. It is an innovative way of encouraging children to express any worries they have to their peers, who they may feel comfortable with. Friends are given four hours of training to give them a good understanding of the purpose of the initiative, how to be an active listener and get kids talking. They are also given on-going support and development. After training, Friends give assemblies to Years 3 and 4, and Years 5 and 6, to explain about their role and at various times can be found in a quiet corner of the school ready to listen. This gives other pupils a chance to seek out a mature, kind, non-adult ear to share any worries or concerns that might not otherwise have an outing. All interactions are recorded in writing and reviewed by one of the pastoral team. Friends may also opt to be mentors, whereby they buddy up with a younger child in the school.
Sam Pollock, Senior Mistress