Good Learning Co.
SavannahYear 8
← RSHE
RSHEFriendships, families and repair20 min★ difficulty

Friendships change, and that is normal

Almost nobody keeps exactly the same friends from age eight to eighteen. Knowing that in advance takes some of the sting out of it.

Lesson overview

What you'll learn in this lesson

Understand how friendships change, and how to manage conflict, loneliness and repair

Key learning points

  • • Why friendships shift
  • • What a good friendship feels like
  • • Loneliness

This lesson at a glance

  • 20 minutes
  • 16 parts to scroll through
  • 4 quick checks
  • Marked quiz at the end
  • Gentle pace: short sittings with pauses

Words to know

friendshipschangemanageconflictloneliness

Scroll down — the lesson carries on below

Part 1 of 16 · Discover6%
1

Watch & discover

Part 1 of 16

Watch first

Friendships change, and that is normal

An English teaching video on this topic from TED-Ed. Watch it, then scroll down for the lesson.

In a nutshell

Understand how friendships change, and how to manage conflict, loneliness and repair

2

Learning cycle

Part 2 of 16

Learning cycle 1 of 2

Part 1 · Why friendships shift

A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.

3

Explore the idea

Part 3 of 16

Learn

Why friendships shift

Interests change, timetables change, people move. A friendship ending is usually drift rather than rejection. Naming it as drift stops you looking for a fault that is not there.

4

Explore the idea

Part 4 of 16

Learn

What a good friendship feels like

You can say no without punishment. You can be quiet without being told you are boring. Effort goes both ways over time, not necessarily in every single week. Feeling worse after seeing someone, again and again, is information worth taking seriously.

5

Quick check

Part 5 of 16

Quick check

What usually ends a friendship at this age?

6

Quick check

Part 6 of 16

Quick check

Which is a sign of a healthy friendship?

7

Reset break

Part 7 of 16

Pause

That's sitting 1 of 2 done

Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.

Stop here for now
8

Learning cycle

Part 8 of 16

Learning cycle 2 of 2

Part 2 · Loneliness

A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.

9

Explore the idea

Part 9 of 16

Learn

Loneliness

Loneliness is a signal, like hunger — uncomfortable, not shameful, and common. Useful responses are small and repeated: a shared activity, a message to one person, a club with a task in it. Waiting to feel confident before joining anything usually keeps the loneliness going.

10

Quick check

Part 10 of 16

Quick check

What helps most with loneliness?

11

Quick check

Part 11 of 16

Quick check

What makes an apology work?

12

Explore the idea

Part 12 of 16

Worked example

Worked example: repairing after an argument

You said something sharp and your friend went quiet. A repair has three parts: name what you did ('I snapped at you'), do not attach an excuse to the apology, and ask what would help. Notice what is missing — a demand to be forgiven straight away. Repair is offered, not enforced.

13

Challenge round

Part 13 of 16

Game · Sort it

Which of these are true?

Drag each card into the right column. Tap a card first if dragging is fiddly.

True

Not true

14

Challenge round

Part 14 of 16

Game · Fill the gaps

Finish the sentences

Choose the word that belongs in each gap.

Interests ____, timetables change, people move.

____ is a signal, like hunger — uncomfortable, not shameful, and common.

15

Mastery quiz

Part 15 of 16

Marked quiz

End of lesson quiz: Friendships change, and that is normal

4 questions, marked with the reasoning shown. No timer.

  1. 1. What usually ends a friendship at this age?

  2. 2. Which is a sign of a healthy friendship?

  3. 3. What helps most with loneliness?

  4. 4. What makes an apology work?

16

Lesson round-up

Part 16 of 16

Lesson round-up

Ready when you are

Quiz score

Not sat

Games

Not played

Points this lesson

0

Best run

0 in a row

Luna: 0 out of 4 on the practice checks. Only if you feel up to it — one more?

Ask Luna

Do the work

Your written work for this lesson

This is the part you'd do in your book at school. Pick the pieces below, write here or on paper, and photograph anything you draw or work out.

Case study

The group chat

Ellie is added to a class group chat with twenty-six people in it. At first it is jokes and homework questions. Then someone screenshots a private message from a girl in another class and posts it. Several people laugh. Two people leave the chat. Ellie says nothing, and feels bad about it that evening.

The next day the girl is off school. A teacher asks the class about the chat. Nobody wants to be the one who tells.

Staying silent can feel like the safest choice in the moment. It also leaves the person who was hurt on their own.

Written for Good Learning Co.

Reading questions

  1. What choices did Ellie have at the moment the screenshot was posted?
  2. Who could she tell, and what would each of them be able to do?
  3. Write what you would do in this situation and why, in 6–8 sentences.

  • Thinking it through

    Writing

    Write what you would do in this situation, who you would ask, and why.

    6–8 sentences

Saved as you type.

Part 1 of 16 · Watch & discover

Good Learning Co. — personalised UK curriculum learning, built around what each learner loves.