Peer Support in the Primary Playground

Linda Bell

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9781906517151
• eBook ISBN: 9781351703567
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Pedagogía
• Subtopic: Educación general

This book is an essential resource to develop playground relationships. Increasingly schools are working very closely with their children, helping them to develop the skills needed to take charge of their own actions and encourage responsible attitudes towards others in the school. The programme for children outlined in this book, 'Playground Champions', is a primary playground peer support initiative which: trains older children to support their peers in solving issues within the playground by focusing on rebuilding relationships rather than apportioning blame; encourages children to see the viewpoint of others and to create their own mutually agreeable solutions; and, helps to establish emotional health and well-being, safety and happiness. The programme is structured, easy to follow and can be used by teachers and teaching assistants within the school. These printable training materials and resources are comprehensive and can be readily adapted to suit the needs of individual children and schools. The programme fits into the current national initiatives such as Every Child Matters, Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning (SEAL), Citizenship and National Healthy Schools and demonstrates good practice for the annual school self-evaluation form (SEF) and Ofsted. It can also add to the evidence required for the school's disability equality scheme showing that they are committed to disability equality and eliminating bullying and harassment. When properly implemented it will help to develop confidence and improve self-esteem in pupils as well as improving behaviour and reducing stress, leading to a happier and healthier school environment. It is suitable for age: 4-11.

Part One

The Playground Champion Programme

Introduction

Playground Champions is a primary playground peer support programme, which looks at training pupils to support their peers in solving playground problems using conflict resolution and problem-solving approaches.

Increasingly schools are working very closely with their pupils in helping them to develop the skills needed to take charge of their own actions and develop responsible attitudes towards others in the school.

Playground Champions is a comprehensive training pack for teachers and teaching assistants and includes information for staff and parents/carers with copiable training materials and resources to help to successfully introduce the concept of peer support and implement the programme in school. It also contains an information leaflet for parents/carers, PowerPoint presentations for staff, plus a PowerPoint presentation and assembly materials for children as well as posters and suggestions for promoting the programme in school. All copiable resources can be found on the CD-ROM.

The programme fits into current national initiatives such as Every Child Matters (ECM), Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning (SEAL) and Citizenship and National Healthy Schools, and demonstrates good practice for the annual school self-evaluation form (SEF) and Ofsted. It can also add to the evidence required for the school’s disability equality scheme by showing that the school is committed to disability equality and eliminating bullying and harassment.

The book is divided into two parts. In Part 1 each chapter is designed to make the process of implementing the programme as straight forward and as uncomplicated as possible.

The first chapter, Peer Support – What Are We Aiming For?, looks at the aims of the peer support programme and puts it into the context of recent national developments and initiatives from the Department for Children, Families and Schools.

The second chapter, Getting Started, suggests ways in which you can set up the programme in your school in six easy steps. The accompanying CD-ROM contains all the relevant paperwork that can be altered to suit the needs of the pupils and school.

Chapter 3, Gathering Your Baseline Data, proposes ways in which data at a whole-school, cohort and individual level can be gathered to monitor the progress of the children and the success of the programme.

Chapter 4, Engaging the School Community, looks at presenting the programme to the school community. It begins with an introductory session to staff and contains examples of PowerPoint presentations that can be used to present the intervention to governors and staff. There is a short leaflet explaining the programme to parents/carers or the governor and staff presentation could be adapted should you decide to inform parents/carers in a more formal way. There is an example assembly, a lesson plan and suggested recruitment procedures that can simplify the whole process and can be adapted for use in your particular learning environment.

The fifth chapter, What Happens Next?, considers ways of introducing the intervention to the other year groups. This chapter also looks at the importance of monitoring the programme’s effectiveness and suggests ways in which this can be done as well as recommending how best to support the young people and optional ways in which the programme could be further developed within your school.

Part 2 consists of the training programme in detail and includes six workshops aiming to promote the children’s skills as peer supporters. The workshops cover active listening skills, assertiveness skills, problem-solving and conflict resolution strategies as well as explaining to the children the logistics of how the programme will operate in your school and some basic behaviour management techniques.

The Playground Champions programme has been designed to be practical and easy to implement in a variety of settings. The materials are fully accessible by all pupils and can be easily adapted to suit the needs of those involved. When properly implemented it will help to develop confidence and improve self-esteem in pupils as well as improving behaviour and reducing stress, leading to a happier and healthier school environment.

Chapter 1 Peer Support – What Are We Aiming For?

As schools are increasingly concerned about the emotional and social wellbeing of the children in their care, there is a growing responsibility to ensure that children are given the skills needed to mature into thoughtful, responsible and caring adults. Peer mentoring and peer mediation have been the successful mainstays in schools for some time but frequently schools are finding access to training for their peer supporters difficult, time consuming and often expensive.

Many of the programmes that are currently available are designed for working with secondary pupils or with volunteer adults working in the schools. The Playground Champions programme is specifically designed for use in primary schools and looks at preparing and guiding Year 5 and 6 children in supporting their younger peers in helping them to resolve playground incidents without the help of a member of staff. With the backing of the senior leadership team the programme can be embedded into the school’s behaviour and inclusion policies and result in a more thoughtful and considerate learning environment. Empowering pupils to better manage their problems and develop independence encourages them to be responsible for their behaviour, enables earlier resolutions to conflict and reduces stress for all members of the school community.

By using a collaborative problem-solving approach, Playground Champions focuses on rebuilding relationships. It encourages pupils to see the viewpoint of others and to create their own mutually agreeable solutions, helping them to develop skills that will be invaluable to them as they mature.

The programme is structured, easy to follow and can be used by teachers and teaching assistants within the school. The resources are comprehensive and can be readily adapted to suit the needs of individual schools. The materials are designed to be fully inclusive and accessible by all children.

The programme offers schools further evidence of their commitment to the social and emotional developmental progress of their pupils when reporting not only to parents, carers and governors but also when completing their self-evaluation form and ultimately to Ofsted.

The overall aim of the Playground Champions programme is to develop a sense of self-worth and self-reliance by helping pupils to acquire the skills needed to resolve conflict and repair relationships without apportioning blame.

The programme has the potential to:

Develop the Emotional and Personal Skills of the Playground Champions and those they Help

This programme aims to help children to develop a better understanding of their own emotions and to develop an increasing empathy with others. The National Healthy School Status document (2005) recommends, ‘…promoting positive emotional health and wellbeing to help pupils understand and express their feelings and build their confidence and emotional resilience and therefore their capacity to learn.’ By helping children to improve their own sense of self-worth we can hope that they will develop a greater sense of respect for not only themselves but also the children they are supporting. Those i...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Part 1 The Playground Champion Programme
• Part 2 The Six Workshops