ELC News 

Lyn Pewtress, ELC Director

Building a community within the School - The Buddy Program

A school community is more than just a location. When we talk about a ‘sense of community’ at Kilvington, we are referring to the quality of the relationships and connections that bind our students together.

As early childhood educators, creating a ‘sense of community’ is an important part of what we do. It is integral to the core themes of belonging and identity that run through the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) and Victorian Early Years’ Learning and Development Framework (VEYLDF) and inform our curriculum.

For young children, a sense of community plays an important role in the development of their feelings of security and belonging. Children thrive in an environment of mutually supportive and caring relationships. 

For this reason, we have established a ‘Buddy Program’ between the Year 5 students and the four-year-old ELC groups. This partnership is particularly helpful in assisting those ELC students who will move onto the Junior School, allowing them to have a special friend to connect with in the future. 

In the program, the children meet with their buddy at least once per term to participate in collaborative activities designed by the teachers.

STUDENT FEEDBACK ON THE BUDDY PROGRAM

Here is a sample of feedback we received from our four and five-year-old students following their initial buddy meeting: 

Taylor: I read a book, and I showed them around our School, but not the playground. When they were four, we were zero. That’s how young we were - all of us!

Levi: I liked drawing Pete the Pig and I liked listening to the book. It was funny.

Farrah: We did a card. I liked buddies when we were doing the card. We wrote a book. I had a happy feeling Elaine was my buddy.

Yi: Thomas was my buddy. We made a picture of a horse and animals. My favourite thing was drawing with my buddy.