1. I can describe an unhealthy relationship
Year 5 – Friends and family
I can describe an unhealthy relationship
Teacher notes:
Through this lesson you will take the children on a journey that allows them to identify when relationships become unhealthy. There are a number of activities for them to participate in that should help them to reflect on their own relationships, on relationships that are unhealthy and how such relationships can lead to an impact on their physical and mental health.
© Leeds South and East CCG

2. Learning outcomes Knowledge Skills
I can recognise ways in which a relationship can be unhealthy and know who to talk to if I need support
I know what positively and negatively affects my physical, mental and emotional health
I can talk about a problem from the past, that I experienced with a friend?
I can identify what I learnt about myself from it.
Teacher notes
Read these through with the children, ensure they are understood.
It is important for the children to understand their own relationships with other people. Building on from the work in year 4, where they looked at what attributes they need to maintain good, positive, healthy relationships, this lesson will look at how relationships can go wrong, how they can be unhealthy. The children need to be encouraged to talk about problems that they have had encountered, in the past, with friends. How they learnt things about themselves from these encounters. By understanding how unhealthy relationships can impact on their physical and mental health they can hopefully identify how to mange things when things do go wrong. Make sure the children are clear what it means to talk about physical and mental health, this may take a little bit of time. 2

3. How we will work together
Can you remember the ground rules we have already talked about, let’s take a minute to think about them.
Teacher notes
Read these through with the children. Hopefully the ground rules will be displayed in the classroom already. 3

4. What do we already know?
Do I know what is meant by an unhealthy relationship? How do I think such a relationship can affect me and how I feel?
Teacher notes:
Ask the children the question on the slide. Give the children a piece of paper, or appropriate class exercise book, and ask them to write the question in the middle of the paper. On their own ask them to create a mind map around the question, answering it to the best of their ability. This is to be done completely without support to give a baseline assessment of what the children already know. 4

5. Let’s get started Look at these characters and pair them up.
Think about what would happen if you had a relationship like theirs
Have you had a relationship like theirs?
Pick one of the pairs and with your partner discuss what makes their relationship unhealthy
Teacher notes:
The aim of this activity is to get the children to start thinking about relationships that are not healthy. They should be able to select at least one pair from the above that they recognise. With their partner they need to discuss why the relationship between the two characters is not a healthy one and then be prepared to report back to the class about what they think. Give them some ideas about the types of things that you are expecting them to say E.g., Nelson and Bart; Nelson is unkind, bossy, aggressive, unsupportive etc. Ask the question: has anyone had a relationship similar to any of these characters? Really emphasise what we are talking about when we talk about ‘an unhealthy relationship’. Try to help them understand this by giving appropriate examples, maybe of your own life, when relationships have been healthy and unhealthy. 5

6. Have you ever had an unhealthy relationship?
Can you think of a time when you have had a problem with a friend, when maybe for a while your relationship was not healthy?
Skill Practice
I can talk about a problem from the past, that I experienced with a friend?
What did I learn about myself from it?
How did I feel at the time?
Teacher notes
Give the children 3-4 minutes to discuss what attributes they think Ant and Dec have that make their relationship so healthy and positive. Let the children discuss this in partners and make notes. Ask them if they think the boys have the same relationships with other people in their life. Ask them if they think this is a special relationship or one that we could all have? Why are relationships so important? Why is it important that we consider our part in relationships? 6

7. How would you feel if?
Order them from the biggest impact on your physical and mental health to least impact
Discuss in your groups why you have put them in this order
Sometimes when relationships become unhealthy it can impact on your physical and mental health.
You have been given a set of cards with different situations on them
Teacher notes:
The children are given a set of cards with different situations on. They are asked to order them from biggest impact on their physical and mental health to least impact. They should work in groups of 2-4 here so that they have people to discuss their ideas with. You need to walk around and encourage lots of talk about the cards and talk about how the situations would make the children feel. After an appropriate amount of time the children can feed back and compare their ideas with other groups. 7

8. How unhealthy relationships affect my health
Physical health
Mental health
Eat too much
Feel anxious a lot
In your groups complete some possible ways that your physical or mental health might be affected by an unhealthy relationship. For example, someone who is feeling unloved, they might eat a lot of sweets or chocolate and put on weight. 8

9. Let’s discuss…
Do you think that the media can affect our physical and mental health as well as our relationships?
Teacher notes:
Sum up to the children that we have been looking at how unhealthy relationships can affect us. How they can make us feel physically and mentally unwell. Ask them to consider how information in the media (social media, the news in general, television programmes etc.) can also do this. Talk about how these things can affect us and maybe make the connection that if we can avoid unhealthy relationships and surround ourselves with healthy ones then our healthy relationships can help us to cope with the times we feel things are too much.
How could good, healthy positive relationships help us with the above? 9

10. How has our learning progressed?
Do I know what is meant by an unhealthy relationship? How do I think such a relationship can affect me and how I feel?
Teacher notes:
Ask the children the question on the slide again. Have they got some more attributes to add, add them to the board if so. Talk to the children about how making new relationships can be a bit different at first. 10

11. How can we take this learning outside the classroom?
This week as you go about your lives try to identify times when you feel upset, either physically or mentally by someone’s actions.
Teacher notes
Ask the children to be a bit more mindful of how they respond to their parents when they are asked to do jobs/go to bed/ get up/ do homework at home. Ask them how their parents react when they do exactly what is asked of them. Do they feel that by doing what is asked of them that they are cooperating or not? How can they make their relationship healthy?
You can also look at things in the media that affect you as well
Be prepared to report back to the class next week about these 11

12. Additional resources and help
Talk to your teacher or an adult in school
Talk to your Mum, Dad or someone you trust at home about how you are feeling
If you have them: – Write your worry down and post it in the class worry box – Talk to a peer mediator in your school – Write your worry down on the worry wall on the school’s website
Contact:
im-a-young-person
Where can I go for help? 12