A NEW care home in the district has presented a ‘Buddy Bench’ to Malvern Parish School.
The bench was won by the children in a competition ran by the Elgar Court care home earlier this year.
Elgar Court invited schools to name the three communities based at the home and Malvern Parish and its School Council came up with the three winning names.
The ground floor community is called ‘Peachfield’, the first floor ‘Foley’ and the second floor ‘Beacon’.
When Malvern Parish first heard they won the competition, they were delighted and as it was a whole school effort, the children asked for a donation towards a new ‘Buddy Bench’ for the playground.
Teacher Becky Hughes, who led the entry, said: “The children got really involved in the Elgar Court naming activity, and took advice from some of the local grown ups to get their inspiration.
“It was part of their mission this year to get a new bench, and we are over the moon as the old one was really old.”
Andrew, a pupil from the School Council told Sarah Cadwallader, Elgar Court’s general manager, about what a Buddy Bench was.
He said: “Sometimes if you don’t have anybody to play with, you can sit here and someone will come up to you and ask you to play.”
Hugo, another team member, added: “It helps people know to be kind to you if they see you sat there.”
And Flo and the rest of the council team said: “You can even eat your lunch there too.”
Headteacher Martyn Bream said: “The children were so excited about the new bench as their old bench was broken, and the school is really grateful for this, as it is used during many other school activities and not just as a ‘Buddy Bench’.”
Ms Cadwallader said: “Not only have the children come up with perfectly suited names for our home’s three communities, but we are really looking forward to the initiatives we will be planning with our residents and school children over the next year.”
Elgar Court is set to open in the summer with the first residents scheduled to arrive in August.
Call 01684 211720 or visit barchester.com/home/elgar-court-care-home for more on Elgar Court.
