19 June 2018
Last Friday morning, Year 7 stepped back in time – by just over nine months. Whilst that perhaps doesn’t seem long ago to most of us, it took them back to their very first day at Woldingham last September, which probably feels like half a lifetime ago!
The reason why they were asked to do this? To put themselves in the shoes of those girls who will be joining Marden this coming September and to whom they will become mentors, or ‘buddies’. Whilst the girls are obviously already well qualified in many ways for this responsibility, professional coach, and former Woldingham teacher, Jen Tower took the girls through a series of fun exercises designed to help them be the best buddy that they can be. They girls worked on things such as body language, listening to understand (rather than listening to respond) and asking open, rather than closed, questions.
The girls were assured that, as a mentor, they don’t need to know everything or to ‘fix’ everything for their buddies, but that they can be a really positive factor in supporting new girls and helping them settle in. The enthusiasm in the room was huge and Year 7 are clearly looking forward to welcoming new Mardeners in just a couple of months’ time.