As girls progress through their primary years, friendships often change. It is important parents are aware of these common social dynamics, particularly in Years 4 to 6.  

During these years, girls become more independent. They begin to make individual choices and decisions, and they develop their own voice. They might not always agree or see things the same way as their friends. For example, what some see as funny and trivial, others may take very seriously. Also, the rate at which they are beginning to mature also has an effect. As girls develop and move through the primary years, their interests and pursuits change. This can put a strain on relationships. For example, some girls develop a love of sports, while others develop a passion for music. While there may have been much common ground in earlier years, as they get older, this can shrink, and the friendship evolves. 

At Barbreck, we implement a number of programs from Prep to Year 6 that: 

• help girls develop and maintain friendships 
• determine what a good friendship looks, feels, and sounds like 
• teach how to compromise and negotiate 
• help girls have good conversations that address needs and wants 
• help girls handle conflict 

New students entering the Year level can also affect friendships when one friend wants to develop a friendship with a new girl. This can often leave the other feeling insecure. This insecurity can be presented in a few ways, including, trying to control the friendship and who plays with whom, putting the new friend down, bossiness, and anxiety for the one feeling on the outer.  

While girls of this age want to be their own person and break free as an individual, they also have a need to belong. This stage of development can prove quite difficult, as often their social skills are still developing, and they do not say what they really mean/want. Navigating the many friendship dynamics without someone having their feelings hurt often proves difficult. 

While they want to remain friends, they may want some of the friendship dynamics to change. This takes tactful conversations, negotiations, compromise and sometimes an acceptance that they too may need to look at themselves in terms of characteristics of a good friend. Sometimes, they might come to the realisation that a particular friendship is not working and look elsewhere for friends that have similar values, interests, and goals. This can be hard for girls of this age and parental support is needed to guide them through these changes. 

Within Barbreck, we encourage our girls to develop a wide circle of friends that include girls from across their different interests. There may be Music friends, Swimming and Netball friends, Chess friends etc. The idea is to not have just one or two friends. A wide group of friends is more supportive of good wellbeing and avoids situations where a girl loses her one and only friend.  

We also encourage girls to have open and frank conversations with friends when they first feel the friendship is changing. Often, girls will go to other girls for advice. Girls of these ages are not experienced in friendships and their advice often makes situations worse. We encourage girls to talk calmly and privately to their friend and explain how they feel when certain behaviours are exhibited. The timing of this conversation is important – and needs to be when the friend first becomes uncomfortable. Conversations held early often lead to better friendships as the other might not have realised the impact. Conversations held six months or later are more difficult, as by then, hurt feelings/anxiety can be quite instilled and more difficult to heal with an apology of “I didn’t realise…” 

As always, we look to work in partnership with our Barbreck families and encourage any families wanting to discuss supporting your daughter through navigating friendships to contact your classroom teacher or myself. Our Barbreck teachers are very willing to help girls have these conversations and to be a safe sounding board for friendship issues. They have been teaching girls for many years and are often well versed in issues at particular Year levels. 

Christmas is almost here! 

In the lead up to Christmas this year, we will be supporting the Koala Kids Foundation, once again. This Foundation supports helping children and adolescents undergoing cancer treatments in Victoria. To give Barbreck families plenty of time to purchase a gift and in doing so give a little joy to these families, we are promoting this worthwhile cause early. 

I encourage all our wonderful Barbreck families to generously support this cause. I am sure you would understand the financial strain many of these families are under and would empathise with how hard Christmas being spent in hospital would be. 

Each girl in a class will be asked to purchase a gift for someone their own age, with half the class buying for a girl and the other half for a boy. This will ensure a good distribution of gifts for all ages and genders. Click here for a list of gift ideas provided by the Koala Foundation.

All items must be brand new and in original packaging. This is essential as children and young people undergoing cancer treatment are extremely immunocompromised and hygiene is of the utmost importance. 

The Barbreck Christmas tree will be erected soon in Reception, adding even more cheer to the final weeks of the year. Gifts can be placed under the tree any time up to the last few days of the school year. They will then be gathered, and the Foundation will collect them in time for Christmas. I thank you in advance for your generosity in supporting this worthwhile cause. 

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Out of School Hours Care – Term 4 Week 6 Activities

Upcoming activities for Term 4 Week 6 are detailed here.

St Catherine’s School offers an Out of School Hours Care program to all ELC and Junior School families. The program is implemented by our provider ‘After the Bell’ and operates within the ELC building. Parents are reminded that if you need to use the Before School Care or After School Care service, registrations need to be made in advance with ‘After the Bell’. Please allow up to five business days for your registration to be processed before your child can begin attending the program. Registration is free. All families are encouraged to register so that they can use this service in the event that you are unable to pick up your child.

Before School Care – 7.00am to 8.45am

After School Care – 3.00pm to 6.00pm

Registrations can be completed via the ‘After the Bell’ website.

Please phone 9758 6744 for all inquiries.