Buddy Bench - a helping tool in our school life
Finding a playmate on the school grounds sometimes poses a challenge to
children. Sometimes they feel lonely and isolated in the complexity that
comes with playing together and building relationships.
In order to promote interaction on the school grounds, the DHPS has decided to put up a buddy bench.
If
a child feels excluded, cannot find his/her friends or wants to make
new friends, he/she can simply sit down on the bench. A fellow learner
can then invite him/her to play along or just sit down to chat.
By
mediating the purpose of the buddy bench and demonstrating to the
learners, how they can use it to establish new relationships, we also
provide an opportunity for them to develop in this field.
In this
way, the social skills and empathy of our learners are strengthened;
they learn to solve problems themselves, pay attention to each other and
respect one another.
The bench is also a valuable tool from a
pedagogical point of view, because it complements the social and
emotional learning in the class room.
We have placed the Buddy
Bench on the playground of the grade 3 and 4 classes that the mentioned
competencies are strengthened in the early phases of school development
and the learners can further enhance them during their future school
career.
A special thanks goes to our art teacher, Ms Karin Hammer, who has designed this bench with her art group.
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