Photo: Marulan Public School (NSW) form a giant human heart!
On July 30th, the International Day of Friendship (proclaimed by the United Nations), something pretty special happened.
More than 200 schools, representing over 50,000 students, joined us for our International Day of Friendship with Friendology… and WOW, did our schools bring it to life!
This year, our theme was: Friendships are the H.E.A.R.T. of Wellbeing!
At Friendology, we know that healthy friendships play an incredibly important role in a child’s wellbeing. Feeling connected, supported, accepted and like you belong matters.
For our International Day of Friendship, we challenged students to think about what healthy friendship looks and feels like through our H.E.A.R.T. acronym:
H – Helps Others
E – Encourages Everyone
A – Accepts Differences
R – Respects All
T – Trust is a Must
And then we invited schools to bring H.E.A.R.T. to life!
It Started with a Celebration Together!
Schools kicked off the festivities with our special Friendology Celebration Assembly, bringing students together to celebrate friendship and see amazing ways our Friendology Schools have been shining the light on friendship skills. In this assembly video, we shared our H.E.A.R.T. challenge and examples of ways to be a Green-Zone Friend to others!
Students also got to hear from Tyson & Oscar, who shared a special video about friendship, and some schools in Catholic Education Western Australia even joined Tyson for live sessions!
And, of course, we turned up the music! Schools pumped our Friendology Playlist, with friendship dances, lunchtime celebrations and recess parties happening on school playgrounds.
At Corpus Christi Catholic School in NSW, students watched the special assembly, made Friendship Ninja headbands, participated in friendship-building activities and came together for a friendship dance over lunch.
Their Wellbeing Coordinator, Jess Deathridge, told us:
“It was wonderful to see so much enthusiasm and engagement from the students as they celebrated the importance of healthy, positive friendships.”
We LOVE hearing that!
Schools Put Their Whole H.E.A.R.T. Into It!
One of our favourite parts of the celebration was seeing the incredibly creative ways schools took on our H.E.A.R.T. Challenge.
At Marulan Public School in NSW, the entire school came together to create a giant human heart – and then captured it from above with a drone! Their Wellbeing Coordinator, Penny Jago-Pope, shared:
“We are having so much fun celebrating the URSTRONG International Day of Friendship within our school community today.”
She also told us how much students enjoyed seeing the experiences and ideas of other schools in our Celebration Assembly.
PLC Sydney also brought students together to create an amazing human heart – such a powerful visual reminder that friendships really are at the heart of wellbeing.
At Syndal South Primary School in Victoria, their incredible Year 5 Friend-o-Leaders stepped up to help lead the celebrations, making hearts and organising friendship activities for their school.
Over in Western Australia, Our Lady Star of the Sea created a beautiful hand-painted Friendship Tree and Kindness Heart, while students at St Joseph’s Primary connected with their buddies to create a special “My Heart” promise.
And those were just a few of the H.E.A.R.T.s we saw!
Friendship Bracelets, Buddies & Friendship Ninjas!
All across our Friendology community, schools made the day their own.
Year 6 Leaders at St Brenden’s Primary School in NSW handmade friendship bracelets for students to take two – one to keep and one to gift to a special friend. Larmenier College in TAS organised buddy activities, bringing younger and older students together. Classes created hearts, reflected on what makes a healthy friendship and found ways to show their friends they care.
And the teachers got involved too!
At Emmaus Christian College in South Australia, Head of Junior School, Marni Greenwood, even dressed up as Friendship Ninja for the day. Now THAT is commitment to the cause!
From friendship dances at recess to whole-school celebrations, handmade creations, buddy activities and Friendship Ninjas roaming the halls, we absolutely loved seeing schools put their own spin on the day.
And Then My Inbox Started Filling Up… ❤️
As schools registered for the celebration, some shared Friendology Moments with us – photos, stories and little glimpses into how their students use Friendology every day. Some of these schools were featured in our Friendology Celebration Assembly video.
But, I wanted the kids to how proud we are of all of them.
So, I sent a personalised video message back to every single school that shared a Friendology Moment with us – 40 schools in total!
It was my way of saying: We see you. We love what you’re doing. You are amazing.
Because that’s what this day was really about.
Not just one big celebration, but thousands and thousands of little friendship moments happening in classrooms, playgrounds and school communities every single day.
More Than Just One Day!
International Day of Friendship is one day on the calendar, but the skills our students are learning are for life.
When children learn how to navigate the ups and downs of friendship, communicate how they feel, resolve conflict, show respect, build trust and be a good friend, we’re giving them skills that support their wellbeing far beyond the school gates.
And when an entire school shares that same language of friendship? That’s when the magic really happens.
To every educator who organised an activity, every teacher who pressed play on the assembly, every Friend-o-Leader who helped younger students, every Friendship Ninja who dressed up, every student who made a bracelet, every school that created a H.E.A.R.T., and every person who danced along to the Friendology Playlist…
THANK YOU. More than 200 schools. More than 50,000 students. One enormous celebration of friendship.
We feel incredibly lucky to have celebrated alongside you and can’t wait to do it all again next year.
With gratitude,
Dana Kerford, Founder & Friendship Expert
