Peer Mentors
Our peer mentor programme aims to enhance early intervention and prevention of wellbeing issues amongst pupils.
The peer mentors are children who have received training on how to support the following issues that can be encountered when growing up:
- school work
- friendship breakdown
- loneliness
- peer pressure
- potential bullying
Our Peer Mentors range from Year 2 up to Year 6 children who have been voted by their classmates and then trained to help resolve minor conflicts in the playground. They have developed skills to help tackle any friendship issues in the playground that might otherwise escalate and how to solve conflicts peacefully and fairly.
The Peer Mentors are trained to help children come to a resolution to conflicts by asking questions such as:
Can you tell me about it?
How did it happen?
Help me to understand?
How did you feel when…?
How do you think _________ felt when…?
How can we solve this problem?
What could you do next time?
What steps could you take to avoid this happening again?
The children are then encouraged to solve their own problems.
Plans for 2023 - 2024
They have been busy thinking about how we can have better playtimes. One of their first challenges was to think about what new resources or activities we could have in the playground. They discussed a range of options and ideas before finally deciding on bringing back the PlayPod. A PlayPod provides a huge range of scrap materials (cardboard tubes, tyres, netting, ropes, crates, bins, fabric, clothing, boxes, carpet tiles, foam, keyboards, phones… the list is varied and endless!) to extend the possibilities of play for all children. The PlayPod will stimulate children’s inventiveness and creativity resulting in them using the items in endlessly different and imaginative ways. The PTFA have kindly agreed to help fund this. Thank you!
The children have been taking part in training meetings so that they can help sort out peer problems in the playground. The children can help sort out any fallouts and disagreements however they understand that sometimes and adult needs to be involved if the problem is ‘too big’ for them. They will also be setting up a lunchtime Wellbeing club. The badges have finally arrived and the children will be getting them this week!
Plans for 2022-2023
Our current focus is setting up the lunchtime Wellbeing clubs and we are also busy planning our Wellbeing bench and area which will be found outside in the playground.