Primary URSTRONG Workshops

Earlier this week we welcomed Dana, the founder of URSTRONG, all the way from Canada to work with the girls in Years 2 – 5, teaching them the skills to become “friendship ninjas”!

URSTRONG is a whole school friendship strategy that works to create kinder environments and empower the girls to play an active role in effectively managing their friendships. SCEGGS has been implementing the URSTRONG processes for over 7 years now and we have certainly seen the benefits of it across the school.

Many of the foundations of the program are the same, no matter what age the girls are. This includes the Four Friendship Facts, which are revised each year.

1. No friendship (relationship) is perfect.
2. Every friendship is different.
3. Trust and respect are the two most important qualities of a friendship.
4. Friendships change… and that’s okay!

At the Friends and Fuzzies workshop with Year 2, the girls discussed what respect looks like and sounds like in a friendship. Dana encouraged the girls to stay true to themselves and be “Friend-o-leaders”. Asking them to do what feels right for them, no matter what their friends or other people around them might be doing. When exploring what a healthy friendship is, the girls were asked to share words that describe a friendship in the “green zone”. Libby shared “kindness”, Emily shared “love” and Vivi shared “warm”.

Years 3 and 4 in The Heart of Friendship workshop focussed on the importance of courage within a friendship, amongst many other things. Courage is particularly important when the girls need to sort out a “Friendship Fire” and confront the issue that has caused the disagreement. This was a nice follow on from the girls’ work with Kimochi’s in Years K – 2 where they learnt to “put their brave in front”. Working through friendship fires isn’t always easy, so Dana gave the girls some tips on how they can tackle this when there are bumps in the road. A large portion of this involved learning about the importance of body language and tone of voice when interacting with friends. Did you know that 93% of how we communicate with others is non-verbal!

At the Friendship Fires workshop, Year 5 explored friendship groups and the influence for better a group can have on each other. The girls learnt about “circle” and “horseshoe” groups and were encouraged to be a part of a “horseshoe” group, one that is open and aware of others around them. Online communication was referenced and how the use of emojis can be helpful in being clear on the tone a message is intended. The acronym ANTs (Automatic Negative Thoughts) was also a focus in Year 5 and the girls discussed how to squash these ANTs if they appear in their mind. A large theme in this session was on self-compassion and the importance of being kind to yourself!

If you’ve been a member of the SCEGGS community for some time now, we hope you are well versed in “The Language of Friendship”. If not, ask your daughter what it’s all about!

Sarah Johnstone
Deputy Head of Primary – Student Wellbeing