Grade 4 - Fab Friends Day

For every Grade 4 student, Thursday, 30 May was a day for celebrating friendship. This year, the Grade 4s immersed themselves in an applied drama theatre practice led by the incredible company, “Drama for Life”, which took our girls on a friendship adventure.

The facilitators created scenes, scenarios, and spaces for our Grade 4s to explore what it means to be a good friend to ourselves and to others. They emphasised the importance of loving ourselves first, just as we are, before considering how we can be great friends. They reminded our students of their worth and delved into friendship tools to help navigate any friendship challenges that might arise.

Through applied drama practices, the facilitators adapted 'live' to the needs of our students, responding to their ideas, fears, and challenges and improvising ways to feel strong and brave in various situations. This approach allowed our Grade 4s to receive personalised guidance and then to practise these skills in the moment, hopefully making them feel braver and more confident in using them in the future.

We played, laughed, created, inspired each other, showed kindness and loved loudly. We also shared our experiences during a picnic gathering at break time. The facilitators led us through a debrief at the end of the workshop, highlighting themes of inclusion, acceptance and not having to compete, with kindness as the key takeaway.

The Grade 4 team introduced the following friendship tools to give our students concrete ideas for handling uncertain friendship challenges: Plant Seeds of Kindness, Be Flexible, Stand Tall, Water it Off, and Shine Away. The facilitators incorporated these themes into each process the girls undertook.

We believe that being a friend starts with feeling of worth. The following message will be echoed throughout the rest of the year: worthy to be loved, to be a friend, to have a friend, and worthy of significant friendships where great memories are made.

A huge thank you to Drama for Life and to Mrs Lowman and Ms Walters for allowing us this opportunity to delve into the therapeutic, fun world of drama.

Watch the video here