If your school has a buddy bench, how does it work? And how easy was it to introduce/

[onesandwichshort]

DD's school prides itself on being a caring and happy place, but has a fairly old-fashioned approach to lunchtime play - all the reception and year 1s (120 in total) are chucked out together in an tarmac-ed play area with no games or support other than a couple of supervisors.

I know a few children who are having problems with this, and my DD is slightly on the receiving end of a boy who can't find friends in his own year (it's a long story, but I think he would really be helped by it).

When we looked at primary schools, quite a few of the other ones had a buddy bench system going, and I want to suggest it to the school. So I'd love to hear about how it works in other schools (or indeed if they use any other idea that helps children without someone to play with). And if you were involved in setting one up, I'd really really like to hear your experiences. School are a bit smug and think they do everything right, so I need to be sure about it all before I go in. Thanks in advance!

Hmm. Ours have a Friendship post. You're supposed to go stand there if you've got no one to play with. And then, as dd put it, everyone can laugh at you cos you've got no one to play with ... Possibly not quite the school's intention, but still, no one uses the Friendship post.

Previous school appointed Play Leaders from yr4 (was First school so yr4 were the eldest). Sometimes they just looked out for small children on their own and either played with them or helped them find a group. Other times they organised games (hopskotch, whats the time mr wolf etc) and anyone who wanted could come and join in.

They also had a pile of equipment - skipping ropes, space hoppers etc. And did a lot of cross-year stuff within school so children didn't only need to play with others in their year, cos they all knew all the others too.

Ah, ok, so it may not be as easy as all that. I did wonder whether the support from within the school might be the key.

Play leaders sounds like a good idea though.

Our primary has a friendship bench which I think does work with the younger children - years R,1 and 2.