Empowering our young people with friendship skills
At Wesley College, we encourage behaviours that positively influence the learning and wellbeing of self and others to promote a safe, inclusive, supportive and cohesive learning community.
Wesley’s approach to learning and wellbeing is captured in the acronym ROAR - Respect, Opportunity, Achievement and Resilience. These four character-based tenets are embedded at the heart of everything we do. Wesley’s Wellbeing program is delivered to students at all levels through a thematic approach that is scoped and sequenced, so it is relevant to the developmental stage of each year group.
Across the College, our young people have been busy learning the skills necessary to navigate friendships in a healthy and respectful way. Research shows that relationships lie at the heart of wellbeing and learning, so when we get friendships right in schools, children flourish!
Students have participated in a wellbeing program run by URSTRONG that focuses on supporting children through the ups and downs of their friendship journeys.
Students learned the Four Friendship Facts:
- No friendship is perfect,
- Every friendship is different,
- Trust and Respect are the two most important qualities of a friendship and
- Friendships change, and that’s okay.
They learned tips and tricks for putting out small ‘friendship fires’ with kindness, courage and compassion, as well as strategies and language they could use to help them solve bigger issues if someone is being ‘mean on purpose’.
In workshops, students turned their hands into ‘friend-o-meters,’ a visual tool that illustrates how friendships can move between healthy and unhealthy zones, to show how they would feel in certain scenarios.
Using role-play, students then practiced what to do and say if a situation between them and a friend caused negative feelings which turned into a ‘friendship fire’.
Year 5 student Matilda said, ‘The URSTRONG workshop was really fun, and taught me different ways to handle friendship fires and also how to view the health of my friendships.’
William from Year 6 agreed: ‘It was great. I’ve used a quick come back during a friendship fire and it was really helpful. I’ve also learned how to deal with friends online and offline.’
Parents don’t always have the answers, which is why teaching children how to nurture healthy friendships and navigate the relationship conflicts that sometimes arise is so important. As a Year 6 student who wished to remain anonymous said, ‘That workshop was life-changing!’
We will continue to discuss and develop the skills and language introduced in this internationally recognised program so our young people are well-placed to conquer the year ahead.
It looks like our students are on their way to becoming friendship ninjas who are kind and friendly to everyone!
