From our Well Being Team

Friendology at Greenwith Primary School 

We are thrilled to announce that our school is embarking on an exciting journey to become a URSTRONG school! Research shows that relationships are the very heart of wellbeing and learning; when children get friendships right, they truly flourish. By adopting Friendology, a whole-school friendship strategy, we are committed to teaching our students the skills they need to develop healthy relationships and foster positive character development. 

What is Friendology and how will Greenwith students be participating?

Friendology is more than just a social skills program; it is a skills-based curriculum designed to grow with your child from their early years onwards. It uses "kids’ language for kids’ problems" and visual tools that resonate with how children actually think and learn. 

Students will have the opportunity to engage in the lessons provided for different year levels with their classroom teacher and peers. This is where the foundations are laid, language is taught and concepts are introduced. For students that require additional support with their friendship/social interactions, group work with our wellbeing team will be facilitated following the Friendology program. This allows us to delve deeper into those stickier issues and provide targeted support if needed. As a whole school approach, we hope to see Friendology become an engrained part of our school culture, enabling our students friendship and social skills to soar.

Insightful Concepts Your Child Will Learn

We want to move beyond "just being nice" and give students a common language and practical strategies to handle real-world social scenarios. Here are some useful concepts that you may find your child start to use when talking about their friendships.

The 4 Friendship Facts

These help children set realistic expectations. They learn that no friendship is perfect, every relationship is different, trust and respect are the most important qualities, and that friendships change, and that’s okay.

The Friend-o-Meter

This is a visual tool that helps children identify the difference between healthy and unhealthy relationships. We want our students spending the most time in "Green-Zone" friendships characterised by fun and safety, rather than "Red-Zone" ones that leave them feeling lonely or hopeless.

Friendship Fires vs. Mean-on-Purpose

This is a vital distinction. A "Friendship Fire" is a normal conflict, like a disagreement or hurt feelings. However, "Mean-on-Purpose" behavior is intentional. Students learn specific strategies for both, such as how to "Talk-it-Out" for Fires or how to use a "Quick Comeback" for Mean-on-Purpose behavior.

Friend-o-Cycle 

This is the normal cycle of conflict in a friendship and the healthy steps to take to put out a fire. The children can use this cycle to ensure they positively confront the issue together, talk-it-out and forgive and forget which creates a closer/stronger friendship. 

How This Helps Your Child

By explicitly teaching friendship skills, we provide a protective factor against loneliness, mental health conditions and foster resilience to overcome challenging social situations. 

This further teaches your child about:

• Emotional regulation and how to manage conflict with kindness.

• How to strengthen boundaries both in person and online (age specific).

• Self-compassion, or learning to treat themselves like their own best friend.

Reinforcing the Language at Home

The most impactful part of this program is that it creates a common language between students, teachers, and parents/caregivers. As part of our membership, you will have access to a free parent membership which includes hundreds of friendship-themed activities, helpful  articles, videos and tips and tricks for parents (which we will also be sharing in our coming newsletters).

Free membership Link - https://urstrong.com/parents/

We are excited to see our school community grow stronger and kinder together as we dive into Friendology!