This School’s Friendship Workshops Teach Girls How To Deal With ‘Toxic’ Cliques
[Photo: Giphy]
Intense teenage friendships can be the stuff of heart eyes and scrapbooks full of precious memories but it doesn’t take much for them to descend into quasi-bullying and burn books.
That’s why one London girls’ school introduced a ‘friendship workshop’ to help its students understand how to handle relationships with friends that go wrong.
Wimbledon High School ran the workshops as part of its ‘Fail Better’ week in March, which encourages girls take risks without the spectre of failure hanging over them.
Education consultant Emma Gleadhill led the sessions with pupils aged between 13 and 15 years old, explaining how to compromise and deal with irritation.
The headteacher of the £16,500 a year school, Jane Lunnon, explained that as well as academic success, friendships can make or break an adolescence.
She told the Evening Standard, “They are learning there will be disappointments as part of friendships and that’s okay.
“We found that it really helps them keep things in perspective and breaks down toxic cliquey gangs. They learn not to berate themselves or say something is irreconcilable.”
Lunnon also added that social media can heighten the emotions felt in teen friendships.
“Kids are more exuberant and effusive on social media and ‘I love you’ is thrown around online when it never would have been in real life,” she said.
“It seems really crucially important we are teaching children about the realities of relationships and that they won’t always be rainbow coloured and sparkling.”
Whether or not a Mean Girls-style trust exercise was held has not been confirmed. If no one at any point shouted “She doesn’t even go here!” then we’ll be disappointed.
Would friendship workshops have helped you when you were at school, or do you think the whole thing is a waste of time? Tweet us at @YahooStyleUK.
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