Friendships play a pivotal role in students' social and emotional lives, particularly during secondary school. Healthy friendships can therefore have a major impact on their mental health and wellbeing, helping to protect them against stress and strengthening their resilience. By providing students with a sense of belonging and connectedness, friendships develop their self-esteem, and their problem-solving and social skills. Teaching students about friendships needs to be embedded in social and emotional learning and wellbeing programs. It’s important that these programs equip students with the skills they will need to maintain strong and healthy relationships, such as by teaching them strategies for reaching out and connecting with others, assessing their current friendships, understanding how different behaviours can impact on their relationships, and navigating friendship issues. The broad term ‘friendship issues’ refers to overt and covert incidents that happen between friends or within friend groups, such as arguments, teasing, belittling, excluding, and spreading rumours or gossiping. A lack of skills and confidence to have difficult conversations with friends, and a belief that there is little they can do to address the friendship issue, means the issue often goes unresolved, with the student choosing instead just to ignore or avoid the offending person. These behaviours can leave young people feeling shut out without explanation, and describing feelings of confusion, stress, anger, sadness and loneliness. ReachOut Schools has put together these resources to help teachers teach students about friendships. This includes developing the skills to navigate behaviours within friendships that cause stress, worry and hurt. Through these lessons, students will be supported to foster positive, safe and stable friendships, so that they are able to benefit from the compassion, trust, fun and sense of belonging that these important relationships provide. |
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Students examine different ways of dealing with changes in friendships and other relationships.
7-12
60 minutes
Through role play, students practise being assertive and explaining how they feel.
7-12
60 minutes
Students examine ways to form new connections and relationships.
7-8
60 minutes
Students examine healthy relationships by developing an understanding of what makes a good friend.
7-8
60 minutes
Students learn how to recognise when a friendship is toxic, and to develop strategies for dealing with different situations.
7-8
60 minutes
Students assess why friends are important for a sense of belonging and connectedness.
7-12
60 minutes
Help students to reflect on the impact banter can have on those around them.
9-10
11-12
60 minutes
Support students to understand social awkwardness and identify strategies for managing it in social settings.
7-10
60 minutes
Students assess different ways to connect and engage with others.
7-10
5 minutes
Assist students as they develop strategies for maintaining healthy relationships when stressed or during tough times.
7-10
5 minutes
Students reflect on the ‘dos’ and ‘don’ts’ of starting a conversation.
7-10
5 minutes
Students identify simple communication strategies to improve and maintain their friendships.
7-8
5 minutes
Help students explore how to maintain close relationships when a friend leaves school or the local area.
9-10
11-12
5 minutes
Students discuss peer pressure and the concept of fitting in.
7-8
5 minutes
By completing a quiz students evaluate their friendship group.
9-10
11-12
5 minutes
Students assess individual friendships to determine if they are healthy or unhealthy
7-8
5 minutes
Students learn about suggested strategies for ending a toxic friendship and identify which ones they might like to use, if needed.
7-8
5 minutes
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