Bluestone school students are enjoying the newly reintroduced buddy system, this term for a plethora of reasons, e.g; getting to know other students and their hobbies, learning and playing games, interaction between the different age groups, helping each other and discovering their different characteristics, including being role model to the younger generations.

The buddy system taps into the 6 Cs (Citizenship, Collaboration, Communication, Character, Creativity and Critical Thinking) schemes of our school, in particular Citizenship, moving towards the realm of Collaboration. It lovely to hear students chatting and interacting in relaxed zones together, which is something they missed for a while. Here are some examples of students’ voices of our most recent buddy dates:

Student voices

1. I like the buddy system because we can teach little kids and its fun (Kellie)

2. I like the buddy system because the little kids are so different to us and my buddy is so bright (Alexia)

3. I like going to buddy because it is something interesting and we can play games (Hadlee)

4. I like buddies because we get to meet new little kids and have fun with them (Leo)

5. I like having buddies because it’s fun getting to know them (Paige)

6. I like the buddy system, because you get to know about the buddy and have fun with them (Hannah)

7. I think it’s a good way to connect with the younger students and give them a role model (Isabelle)

8. I like getting to know the little kids (Sophie)

9. I like helping people (Ashton)

10. I like my buddy, because of how calm and nice she is (Sunny)

11. I like buddies, because it’s good for role modelling and other stuff (Maryke)

12. My buddy has a good sense of humour (Niko)

13. I like the buddies and how they were chosen (Hunter)

The last buddy meeting between the room 16 (Mr. Weibl) and room 8 (Geddis) had students preparing and sharing each other’s hobbies and interests, followed by pair and small group games to build positive relationships that can lead to future learning together, including projects and mini-research cooperation tasks. All students are already excelling in proving that their Communication skills are in line with the goals of our school, in particular getting better at understanding how to move or engage with the people they are communicating with. Gabriel Weibl