Nursery World - Be my buddy at primary school

Children in their first year at a South Lanarkshire primary school are getting a helping hand from older pupils thanks to a newly-launched buddy scheme. All 60 children in primary 1 at Woodside Primary in Hamilton are being matched up with mentors from the 56 children in primary 7. The 'big buddies' will help the 'little buddies' in a variety of ways, from listening to their reading to just checking up on how they are settling in.

All 60 children in primary 1 at Woodside Primary in Hamilton are being matched up with mentors from the 56 children in primary 7. The 'big buddies' will help the 'little buddies' in a variety of ways, from listening to their reading to just checking up on how they are settling in.

Depute headteacher Kevin Kelman said, 'We have just started to pair the children up. Some of the P1 children may have problems with a particular curriculum area, so this will give them an opportunity to practice. It's like a support network. We're planning to have a "buddy lunchtime" for all the buddies to get to know each other, and we'll ask the big buddies and wee buddies to hook up on Fridays to have a chat about how the wee buddies have found the week and what they've been up to.'

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