	{"id":129154,"date":"2026-04-08T04:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T18:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/geelongtimes\/?p=129154"},"modified":"2026-04-01T20:13:36","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T09:13:36","slug":"bellarine-schools-in-rotarys-buddy-seat-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/geelongtimes\/news\/bellarine-schools-in-rotarys-buddy-seat-project\/","title":{"rendered":"Bellarine schools in Rotary&#8217;s Buddy Seat project"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>ROTARY has helped six Bellarine primary schools foster kindness and inclusiveness with a new initiative.<\/p>\n<p>A member of the Bellarine North Rotary Club came across a &#8220;buddy seat&#8221;, which aims to help address bullying, particularly in schools, by giving children who would like a friend or someone to play with somewhere to go.<\/p>\n<p>Club publicity officer Caroline Rickard said her club warmed to the concept and decided to take it on as its next project.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We approached our local schools with the idea, and they warmly embraced it.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;From there, we committed ourselves to bringing the project to life.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Buddy Benches have now been installed at the Drysdale, Clifton Springs, Portarlington, St Leonards, St Thomas and Christian College Bellarine primary schools.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_183891\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-183891\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-183891\" src=\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/BenchBuddySeat_30494.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"450\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-183891\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The benches give children who would like a friend or someone to play with somewhere to go. Photo: Supplied.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The benches have a sign stating &#8220;everyone belongs and everyone is important&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>Rickard said the feedback from schools so far had been overwhelmingly positive.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;These seats provide a safe and welcoming space for children to sit, talk, and connect. More importantly, they encourage empathy, support, and friendship among students.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Our hope is that this small initiative creates a ripple effect &#8211; one where bullying becomes less present not only in schools, but in all areas of life.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;By teaching kindness and inclusion early, we help build a brighter, more compassionate future.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>She said Bellarine North Rotary Club was always welcoming new members and fresh ideas.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;If you&#8217;re new to the area, have some spare time, or are simply looking to connect and contribute to your community, we would love to meet you.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>For more information on the club, head to <a href=\"http:\/\/bellarinenorthrotary.org.au\">bellarinenorthrotary.org.au<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ROTARY has helped six Bellarine primary schools foster kindness and inclusiveness with a new initiative. A member of the Bellarine North Rotary Club came across a &#8220;buddy seat&#8221;, which aims to help address bullying, particularly in schools, by giving children who would like a friend or someone to play with somewhere to go. Club publicity [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"btn btn-secondary understrap-read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/geelongtimes\/news\/bellarine-schools-in-rotarys-buddy-seat-project\/\">Read More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":129157,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-129154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Bellarine schools in Rotary&#039;s Buddy Seat project - Geelong Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Buddy Bench project brings kindness to Bellarine schools as Rotary installs seats to support inclusion, friendship and wellbeing.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/geelongtimes\/news\/bellarine-schools-in-rotarys-buddy-seat-project\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bellarine schools in Rotary&#039;s Buddy Seat project - Geelong Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Buddy Bench project brings kindness to Bellarine schools as Rotary installs seats to support inclusion, friendship and wellbeing.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/geelongtimes\/news\/bellarine-schools-in-rotarys-buddy-seat-project\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Geelong Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"jamespetertaylor\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-04-07T18:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/21\/2026\/04\/BenchBuddySeatat_545.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"James Taylor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@notthatjt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"James Taylor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/geelongtimes\\\/news\\\/bellarine-schools-in-rotarys-buddy-seat-project\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/geelongtimes\\\/news\\\/bellarine-schools-in-rotarys-buddy-seat-project\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"James Taylor\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/geelongtimes\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2655215c02475fb33ffa43a1c8fe2677\"},\"headline\":\"Bellarine schools in Rotary&#8217;s Buddy Seat project\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-07T18:00:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/geelongtimes\\\/news\\\/bellarine-schools-in-rotarys-buddy-seat-project\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":300,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/geelongtimes\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/geelongtimes\\\/news\\\/bellarine-schools-in-rotarys-buddy-seat-project\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/21\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/BenchBuddySeatat_545.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/geelongtimes\\\/news\\\/bellarine-schools-in-rotarys-buddy-seat-project\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/geelongtimes\\\/news\\\/bellarine-schools-in-rotarys-buddy-seat-project\\\/\",\"name\":\"Bellarine schools in Rotary's Buddy Seat project - 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