One of the many resources we use at school to promote positive relationships is the Friendly Schools Plus program. This program provides evidence-based classroom materials to enhance social and emotional learning and to reduce bullying. The whole school implementation of this program provides common understandings and consistent language used throughout the school.

The program is separated into school years with explicit teaching, learning tasks and activities presented in a way that is developmentally appropriate to each particular year level. The Friendly Schools Plus classroom resources takes on a strengths-based approach, designed to improve social and emotional development in areas such as social knowledge and social skills and promoting positive peer relationships and teacher-student relationships.

Social and emotional learning areas provide the framework for the explicit teaching of social and emotional skills in each classroom resource across ages 4 to 11. The sections are divided into the five key areas:

• Key area 1: Self-awareness
• Key area 2: Self-management
• Key area 3: Social awareness
• Key area 4: Relationship skills
• Key area 5: Social decision-making

The Resource also includes overviews of the supporting evidence and information addressing:

• Social and emotional learning
• Bullying
• Whole-school approach to reducing and preventing bullying

For a further statement on the school’s approach to bullying prevention, please see below.