Friendship Code Creation

Year Levels

• Year 3 and Year 4

Duration

• 60 minutes

Class Size

• 25 students

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Learning Area

Health and Physical Education – Personal, Social and Community Health

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NSW Curriculum Alignment

Learning Outcomes & Content Descriptions

• ACPPS031 (Responding to social situations): Identify ways to make friends and the qualities that help maintain friendships.
• ACPPS034 (Communicating and interacting): Apply practices that promote inclusion and respectful relationships.
• ACPPS035 (Using emotional and social skills): Recognise and describe emotional responses in themselves and others and use strategies to manage emotions and solve problems constructively.
• ACPPS037 (Protective behaviours): Identify situations where protective behaviours and help-seeking are important to keep safe.
• ACPPS038 (Personal and social skills): Demonstrate skills to establish and manage positive relationships.
• ACPPS039 (Decision making and problem solving): Apply skills and strategies to manage change or transitions and to negotiate and resolve conflict.

Achievement Standard Highlights for Years 3 & 4

By the end of Year 4, students will:

• Identify influences on identity and describe strategies to manage emotions, transitions, and interactions respectfully.
• Apply communication, empathy, conflict resolution, and protective behaviours to maintain respectful relationships in various contexts.

Reference: Health and Physical Education Achievement Standards Years 3 and 4

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Lesson Title

Creating Your Friendship Code - Applying Relationship Skills

Lesson Description

Students revisit key relationship-building skills and collaboratively develop their own ‘Friendship Code’ incorporating communication skills, conflict resolution strategies, empathy, and protective behaviours. The lesson culminates with reflection on how these skills help build and maintain respectful relationships at school and beyond.

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Learning Objectives

By the end of this lesson, students will be able to:

1. Recall and explain key relationship skills learned throughout the unit.
2. Create a comprehensive Friendship Code that includes communication, empathy, conflict resolution, and safety strategies.
3. Reflect on the importance of these skills in maintaining respectful and positive relationships.
4. Demonstrate understanding of protective behaviours and when to seek help.

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Resources Needed

• Large poster paper or whiteboard
• Markers, coloured pencils
• Printed or digital template of a “Friendship Code” outline (sample sections: Communication, Empathy, Conflict Resolution, Protective Behaviours)
• Scenario cards for group discussion (developed previously or teacher-created)
• Reflection sheets for individual students

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Lesson Outline

1. Introduction and Review (10 minutes)

• Begin by revisiting the relationship skills and strategies learned in previous lessons. Use an interactive format such as a quick whole-class brainstorm or a KWL chart (Know, Want to know, Learned).

• Highlight key themes: communication (active listening, kind words), empathy (understanding others’ feelings), conflict resolution (calmly resolving disagreements), and protective behaviours (staying safe, asking for help).

• Use visual aids or concept maps to anchor the discussion.

2. Friendship Code Creation - Group Work (25 minutes)

• Organise students into 5 groups of 5.

• Distribute “Friendship Code” templates with four sections:

• Communication Skills

• Empathy Practices

• Conflict Resolution Strategies

• Protective Behaviours and Help-Seeking

• Each group reviews scenario cards depicting everyday friendship situations, challenges, or conflicts.

• Students collaboratively decide which skills and strategies apply to each scenario and write these ideas into their Friendship Code sections.

• Encourage creativity: students may draw symbols, write words or phrases, or use role play snippets to illustrate key points.

• Circulate and support groups, prompting deeper thinking where needed.

3. Sharing and Consolidation (15 minutes)

• Each group presents their Friendship Code poster to the class.

• Facilitate a class discussion identifying common strategies and unique ideas from each group’s code.

• Create a master ‘Class Friendship Code’ on a large poster or whiteboard incorporating students’ contributions.

• Discuss how following this code will help everyone positively interact, solve problems, and stay safe.

4. Individual Reflection and Connection (10 minutes)

• Hand out reflection sheets with prompts such as:

• Which friendship skill do you think is most important? Why?

• How will you use your Friendship Code at school and home?

• What will you do if you or a friend feel unsafe?

• Invite students to write or draw their answers.

• Optionally, have a short voluntary sharing session.

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Assessment

• Ongoing formative assessment via observation during group work and presentations: participation, understanding of relationship skills, and application to scenarios.
• Individual reflection sheets collected to assess personal understanding and commitment to respectful relationships and protective behaviours.
• Class Friendship Code creation as a collective product demonstrating integration of learnt skills.

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Differentiation and Inclusion

• Provide scenario cards with varying complexity to suit literacy levels.
• Offer sentence starters or word banks for students needing writing support.
• Allow alternative responses such as drawings for reflections.
• Encourage peer support within groups to foster inclusion and confidence.

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Teacher Reflection Notes

• Observe levels of student engagement and understanding during scenario discussions.
• Note any misconceptions about conflict resolution or protective behaviours for future reinforcement.
• Consider digital follow-up activities such as a ‘Friendship Code’ video or digital poster creation in subsequent lessons or units.

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This lesson brings together relationship skills learned over the unit into a meaningful, student-owned Friendship Code that will empower Year 3 and Year 4 students to foster respectful and safe friendships aligned with the NSW Health curriculum goals. It encourages collaboration, critical thinking, empathy, and practical application of protective strategies, catering well to the developmental stage of students in this cohort.