BUZ Rangers Program (Student Leaders)
PLAYGROUND LEADERSHIP & PEER MEDIATION PROGRAM
The Focus of the BUZ Rangers program is to develop a team of playground leaders with positive skills to help enable the school playground to be a safe and fairer place for all students and therefore reducing the incidences of bullying. Plus skills in mediating between children in conflict and helping children with friendship and playground skills.
The BUZ Rangers program works best with a team of 20-24 students who have been selected as suitable trainees.
The program is designed to be conducted over two full school days. These can be done on con-current days or one day each week over two weeks. The session times are flexible to allow for the school timetable.
The program is best conducted in a ‘specialist’ room with minimal interruptions.
Student leadwers receive an A4 Trainees manual.
BUZ Rangers - Program Outcomes
Provide the students with the skills to:
• Build a positive sense of self within the team.
• Confidently communicate & cooperate with others.
• Develop the ability to convey friendship skills to other students.
• Understand, communicate and manage their own feelings and help other students with their feelings.
• Recognise and resolve their own conflicts as well as mediating between other students in conflict.
• Handle situations when they are not being treated fairly or with respect. (Bullyproofing) and be able to assist other students when they are not being treated with respect.
• Be a positive role model in the school playground.
• Create and encourage positive play activities in the school playground.
BUZ RANGERS PROGRAM OUTCOMES FOR TRAINEES
• To establish the skills needed to cooperate in a BUZ Circle and in a team.
• Practice cooperation and communication using the BUZ circle skills.
• More advanced teamwork and cooperation skills. Also the ability to assess a situation and solve any problems.
• Understand that they posses unique strengths that are valuable to the program. Also understand that everyone has strengths that can be valuable to the team.
• Reflect on their strengths and their own self worth.
• Realise that by working together to help each other it is easier to complete a task or challenge.
• Discover the skills needed to work in a team by the example of a successful group.
• Recognise the importance of working together and appreciate the value of each aspect.
• Demonstrate that cooperating with others and working in a team takes skill, understanding, teamwork and trust. Learn to cooperate and trust each other.
• Focus on feelings when things go wrong or when there is conflict, reflect on what went wrong, what is important in cooperating with others and how to learn from the experience.
• Help the team regain their confidence after encountering conflict.
• Developing an ability to recognise feelings and build a feelings vocabulary.
• Learn how to recognise feelings, reflect on our own feelings and how to express them by speaking.
• Learn and value the use of ‘I messages’.
• Learn the skills of feelings management and learn the BUZ Feelings Management Creed.
• Understanding where anger comes from, the feelings beneath anger and how to handle anger.
• Understand the importance of empathy - knowing what leads others to feel the way they do and how to feel with them.
• Understand good communication skills, especially speaking and listening. To see the connection between feelings and communication.
• Understand that active listening is more than just hearing and involves using all your senses when listening to someone. Practice the skills of active listening
• Understand that conflict happens, why it happens, that it is a normal part of life and that conflict comes from an identified problem.
• Realise that conflict affects the quality of a friendship and if not resolved may mean the end of the friendship.
• Realise that people handle conflict in different ways but true conflict resolution is the best way.
• Learn the BUZ Hopscotch Method of Conflict Resolution and how to apply it to resolve conflict.
• Realise that the whole process is a way of saying sorry but that they can choose to say sorry at any point.
• Role play and become competent at the conflict resolution skills
• Learn to mediate between other children in conflict situations. Also learn the importance of knowing the ground rules and when to apply them. Become competent mediators.
• Learn the Gimme 5 strategies to bully-proof themselves with the view that they can pass these skills onto other children.
• Know the steps to making & keeping friends as well as how to help other children make friends.
• Practice and become competent at advanced skills in a variety of situations including friendship issues, fights, and bullying.
• Recognise when they are out of their depth with a problem and when to go for help.