Year 5 Spotlight

What’s the Buddy Program?

The Buddy Program helps Foundation students with their transition to school. It helps them to feel more comfortable going out to the playground as they have a familiar face in the yard. For our Year 5 students, the Buddy Program helps them to develop responsibility for others and demonstrate empathy, patience, and compassion. Every year the Buddy Program is a highlight for our Foundation and Year 5 students!

Below are some reflections of the Buddy Program from a Year 5 perspective:

When I’m with my buddy I feel more responsible because I have to be a good role model for him. I have to help my buddy because he sometimes doesn’t know how to write a specific word or sentence. ~ Mael, 5A

Having a little buddy is really good for developing lots of responsibility and feeling a bit grown up. Having a buddy gets tricky when they will not do what you want them to do. In buddy sessions we are helping to do their work together. ~ Erica, 5A

The preps are so cute, joyful and energetic, when we’re with our buddies we help them with tasks and we have lots fun together, we sometimes even eat lunch together! When I’m with my buddy I feel good for helping them adjust to the school. ~ Emiko, 5A

The buddy program is very enjoyable for both buddies and we always have so much fun working with them. We’ve really loved helping them out and doing activities with them too. Lots of people like making fairy gardens, showing them around the school, and just playing with the preps overall—sometimes friends of both people will join, too! ~ Beatrice, 5A

Getting a buddy is one of the most memorable points in school. You get the chance to create wonderful friendships and inspire your buddy to be a role model. You have the responsibility of teaching them how to face the world and learn the skills needed for adulthood. ~ Leni, 5A

Buddies is a great opportunity to learn how to take care of a little kid and show them how to get around and learn about the school. We love to have lunch and do activities with them. We’ve already made butterflies and this week were going to do a scavenger hunt which should be tons of fun. ~ Eddy, 5C

Every Friday we go to see our buddies to do fun activities. Things we do are craft (a lot), scavenger hunts, playing on the playground and eating our snack together. It’s a lot of fun teaching these little kids what to do at this amazing school. ~ Maddie, 5C

At buddies, we participate in lots of fun activities, including, arts and craft activities, like making butterflies with paper and cellophane. We often eat our lunch together and play on the playground at the start of playtime. It’s nice to feel like we are helping the younger kids. ~ Lola, 5C

In buddies we do fun things like, scavenger hunts, reading and drawing together. They’re fun to hang out with and so far, this year I’ve gotten to work with two preps. On Thursdays we play with them and do all sorts of fun things. Being able to help out the preps feels like a reward more than doing extra work. ~ Amelia, 5B

My buddy Albert is really nice and kind – his favourite colour is red! And he is really fast. I like playing soccer with him, he is super good because of his speed. His favourite movie is Cars and he loves fire trucks and his favourite book is the Cars books. I love helping my buddy do work. It's so fun! ~ Lucas, 5B

My buddy Harry is so kind and fun to hang out with! His favourite animal is a giraffe, and he loves the song ‘Sunflower’. It is so much fun to have a buddy and to teach them about the school. ~ Sammy, 5B

~ Year 5 Teachers (Naomi, Olivia, Lauren & Blake) and Students