Bright Horizons children create pen pals in Australia through Buddy Program

Children at Bright Horizons nurseries recently wrote to pen pals at settings in Australia, as part of the Buddy Program set up between Bright Horizons and Only About Children (OAC).

The initiative began to coincide with International Friendship Day and has seen children from a number of Bright Horizons and OAC settings take part.

One example included East Barnet Day Nursery and Preschool where a welcome pack was sent to Australia. This included letters from the children containing details about the activities they complete at the nursery. They also included pictures of visits they have made to various parts of the UK, such as Buckingham Palace and a Pumpkin Patch.

Nursery Manager Ciara said, “We received 18 wonderful pictures hand-drawn by each of the children writing to us, sharing their names, their favourite colours, their ages and their favourite books. Our preschool children were chiming in to compare what their favourite books and colours were. This has to be one of the best received experiences for our children and they’re even asking to do video calls to the other side of the world now.”

Children at Didsbury Day Nursery and Preschool are also looking to write their own letters to be posted so they can play their part in return and allow their friends in Australia to learn more about them.

Didsbury’s Nursery Manager Jenni said, “It was so much fun open opening the mail with letters and the children really enjoyed it. At first the children guessed what was inside this and then we took a peep inside. The children enjoyed hearing about their pen pal’s favourite colours and looked at their pictures. The children also spoke about how far Australia is from us here in Manchester and we had a discussion that the parcel had to come on a plane to get to us.”

Bright Horizons completed the acquisition of Only About Children on July 1st. Based outside Sydney, OAC operates approximately 75 campuses located in the Australian states of New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland. The transaction diversifies Bright Horizons’ offerings outside of the U.S. and Europe, providing an opportunity to leverage its expertise in child care and global client relationships, while enhancing Bright Horizons’ position as a global leader in delivering high-quality early education and child care services.