Friendships & Relationships
Forming and maintaining friendships and relationships.
- Gather pupil voice on friendships and break-time preferences to ensure support aligns with the learner’s comfort and needs.
- Offer interest-based small group activities to build peer relationships in a low-pressure setting.
- Support peer interactions through structured games to encourage inclusion and build social skills.
- Allow the young person to work independently (if they prefer) where the learning aim is not related to group work, so they can focus on the lesson content rather than social interaction.
- If group work is required, provide clear expectations and guidance; for example, clearly defined roles (such as researcher or scribe) supported by visuals, so that the young person understands what is expected.
- Think aloud and model perspective-taking (for example, by using ‘I wonder’ statements) to support the young person to understand the different ways that social situations can be interpreted.
- Offer the learner the opportunity to join in with structured, small-group activities based on their interests to help develop peer relationships in a supportive environment; for example, an art club, cooking club, or play bricks intervention (make sure to plan groupings carefully to avoid causing anxiety for participants).
- Provide intervention/coaching/mentoring around social interactions as a personalised social skills intervention.
- Provide coaching/mentoring sessions for the young person to support wellbeing and managing social interactions.
- Use structured problem-solving and visually supported reflective conversations to unpick social misunderstandings or concerns; for example, role play, restorative visuals, or comic strip conversations to gain insight into social situations and practice perspective-taking.