How long does it usually take to make friends when they start school?

[TheBillboardsAreLeering]

When kids first start school aged 4/5, is it normal for them to mostly play by themselves? My son is pretty shy and quiet, I'm just curious when I should expect him to start interacting more with other kids and forming friendships. He's my eldest so no experience of how this all goes and I don't want my own past experiences/hangups affecting him or my approach.

Mine made friends straightaway but they also made great friends with the DC who were really shy and quiet to begin with a couple of weeks later.

For the quieter shyer DC their DM's made a bigger effort to arrange play dates with all the DC one at a time to build up their confidence.

My shy DC only really started developing actual ‘friendships’ in the second half of Year 1 and properly in Year 2. They mostly played alongside others or played collectively as a bigger group, though they were not by themselves. The school doesn’t seem to have a big play date culture (mainly just if the parents already know eachother) and COVID hit in Reception which probably slowed things down a bit.