This week is Friendship Week in St. Declan’s. We as a school want to highlight the importance of friendship in our school. We will use this week to make the children aware of the attributes of a good friend. We will discuss bullying and remind the children that there are ways to deal with bullies. Our anti-bullying policy is on our school website for more information for parents. We recently purchased a Buddy Bench for our yard. The initiative aims to help children mix with their peers and avoid social isolation. If a child is feeling lonely or left out they sit on the bench and someone will reach out to them. It promotes a positive environment for the children to help each other out. Here are some of the activities we have planned for the week.

Sixth classes are going to make Friendship Power Points to show at assembly. Fifth classes are going out to play with the Junior and Senior Infants on yard during beak time.
Fourth classes are going to make friendship cards for Junior Infants. Third classes are going to make up acrostic friendship poems.
Second classes are going to do KK’s within their classrooms. They will have to bring in a small token from home for their special friend. First classes are going to design friendship posters. Senior Infants are going to read the story of the Rainbow Fish who turned out to be a very good friend. They are going to do an art activity . Junior Infants are going to create a Friendship Tree using their fingerprints We will finish off Friendship Week with a Friendship Assembly. We are all learning the song, You’ve got a friend in me, from Toy Story. We have ordered friendship bracelets for the entire school which we will be distributing at the end of the week.
A Recipe for Friendship
You will need:
A pinch of happiness,
1 handful of kindness,
2 spoonfuls of gentleness
1 litre of sharing,
a teaspoonful of helpfulness,
3 heaped tablespoons of laughter,
50g of smiles,
a sprinkling of cheerfulness
and 100g of love.
Method:
Mix all these together. Then you will have the perfect friend. Good friends are like stars. You don’t always see the but you know they are always there.