Creating friendly and caring school communities.
Better Buddies, an initiative of The Alannah and Madeline Foundation, helps students entering their first year of primary school to feel safe, valued and connected to the school community. The school pairs new primary school students with an older buddy.
The Better Buddies Framework is a curriculum resource for primary schools, designed to enhance or introduce buddy systems in schools. It is easy to implement and allows teachers to tailor Better Buddies to suit their school, train students to be buddies and source ideas for buddy activities.
Better Buddies is designed to help reduce bullying and create friendly and caring school environments. The Framework builds strong relationships and research shows children benefit immensely - with younger students feeling safe and cared for and older students feeling valued and respected.
Launched in 2000, Better Buddies is now in almost 1,000 Australian schools, thanks to the support of NAB, Trusts and Foundations, and other community partners. Our principal partner NAB works with the Foundation to support the program by helping to make it available to all Australian primary schools.
The philosophy and concept of Better Buddies was developed in conjunction with the Foundation and leading children's author and illustrator, Michael Salmon. Michael created our original and much-loved mascot, Buddy Bear, in 1999 in collaboration with Maree Stanley, the Foundation's Manager of Prevention. Michael's artwork has since been refreshed in Australia and adapted for similar Better Buddies programs internationally.