This half-term the Equality And Rights Advocates (EARA) team have been planning a special project to revamp the Buddy Benches in the Key Stage 1 and 2 playgrounds.

Before they started, these were plain benches which were not being used for the correct purpose – to be a place to go for those who can’t find a friend. The EARA team have added a brightly-coloured label to make the benches stand out, and rules for how to use the Buddy Bench correctly. The rules of the Buddy Bench were shared with the whole school during assemblies, where the EARA team acted out different scenarios of people using the bench (some correct and others incorrect) and the children had to guess which were the correct uses. 

Everyone now know how to use the Buddy Bench if they are feeling left-out or lonely, or what to do if they see someone else sitting on the bench because they feel this way. Hopefully this will be a useful spot for children and help them to build new friendships.

Thank you to the EARA team and their staff coordinator Miss Sheppard!

Mr R Cunningham
Headteacher