Celebrating International Friendship Day

Friendship is a vital part of a child’s development, emotionally, socially, and even academically. International Friendship Day is marked every year on the 30th July. It’s the perfect time to reflect on the value of friendship and how we can support our children in building strong and healthy relationships.

Friendships help children:

Feel a sense of belonging and connection
Learn to manage their emotions and understand others
Develop key social skills like empathy, cooperation, and conflict resolution
Build confidence and reduce feelings of stress or loneliness

However, making and maintaining friendships doesn't always come easily. Children often need support to learn the language of friendship, how to initiate play, navigate disagreements, or know when it's time to take space from others.

As a parent or caregiver, your guidance can make a big difference. Here are some helpful strategies:

Listen actively when your child shares friendship challenges.
Use stories or your own childhood experiences to show that everyone has ups and downs in friendships.
Encourage diversity in your child’s social circle — across age, background, and interests.
Model calm responses when things go wrong and teach your child how to walk away from tense situations.
Connect with teachers if you notice recurring concerns — you’re a team in supporting your child.

Developing these skills is part of lifelong learning and will benefit your child well beyond the playground. Let’s work together to grow kind, respectful, and resilient young people — one friendship at a time.

Parent Resources

Raising Children Network: Supporting Friendships

Learn how friendships change as children grow and how to help your child manage social challenges in healthy ways.

Parental As Anything Podcast

S2 Episode 4 – How to help your child make friends

In this episode, Maggie chats with podcaster and writer Rebecca Sparrow and parent educator Claire Orange from BEST Programs 4 Kids, offering practical tips to help children navigate the often-tricky world of friendships.

Pop Culture Parenting Podcast

Ep031: Dumb & Dumber + the power of friendship

Billy and Nick use the classic film Dumb & Dumber to frame how to build good opportunities for kids to develop strong friendships and how to support them when they're struggling to make friends.

Friendship Bracelet Making Activity at Wellbeing Club

This week we have been making friendship bracelets during the Wellbeing Club. The Wellbeing Club is on during lunch on Tuesdays and Thursdays in the F/1B classroom. Join us for puzzles, drawing, boardgames, lego and special wellbeing activities such as friendship bracelet making.

Child safety and wellbeing at Thornbury Primary School: information for families and the school community

Thornbury Primary School is committed to providing an environment where students are safe and feel safe.

Our child safety framework explains how we support and maintain child safety and wellbeing at Thornbury Primary School. It includes our:

Child Safety and Wellbeing Policy
Child Safety Reporting and Responding Obligations Procedures, and
Child Safety Code of Conduct, which outlines acceptable and unacceptable behaviours for all staff and volunteers at our school.

Our students and families are important partners in providing a child safe environment. These regular newsletter reminders are one of the ways we ensure our school community is aware of:

- our commitment to child safety, and

- how to provide feedback or raise child safety concerns

If you have any concerns about child safety at any time, please contact Thornbury Primary School on 03 9484 3254.Any child safety complaints or concerns are treated seriously. For more information about our school’s complaints process, see our Complaints Policy.

We also welcome your ideas on ways we can improve our approach to child safety and wellbeing. If you have any suggestions or comments please contact Thornbury Primary School on 03 9484 3254 or at thornbury.ps@education.vic.gov.au.

Human Sexuality and Consent Education

Our school proudly partners with Talking The Talk Healthy Sexuality Education by subscribing to their Virtual Classroom Resource

This is your monthly reminder to educate yourself and keep up the conversations with your children.

Access the Talking The Talk Virtual Classroom parent platform:
- Our School’s Initial sign up link: · https://www.talkingthetalksexed.com.au/offers/X5YY6gFh?coupon_code=THORPAR338
- Subsequent Logins: https://www.talkingthetalksexed.com.au/login
Upcoming live parent session on Zoom: Monday 18th August 8:00 pm
This month’s free resource link(s):
- Free Puberty booklet by the Western Aust Dept of Health:
https://www.healthywa.wa.gov.au/Articles/N_R/Puberty

In the community