How to help my year 5 child make friends?

[Secondarysuggestions]

My year 5 child is new (ish) and is quite introverted and shy. V bright, but not a boffin. But he doesn’t really have any friends at his school. (He struggled at his last too.)

i’ve seen him interact with new children. He comes off as rude, even though he isn’t!! Doesn’t really talk to them. Wears a baggy hoody, hood up, sleeves over his hands.

How do I help him make friends? And be a little braver? He used to blow my mind he was so brave! And now he’s retreated into his shell and always seems a little sad. I think he’s lonely :(

I’d play games with him modelling how to talk to people. When you read books and watch tv talk about how people might feel. Model the veery best you can when he sees you talking to other people and lots of praise for him.

Speak to the school maybe. Each half term, we nominate children for nurture group. 6 weeks or so isn't very long and no where near long enough for children who require real nurturing but I had a girl in my class last year who sounds similar to your son and those few weeks made the world of difference to her regarding friendships and how she interacted with others.

It's lovely to see how much she's blossomed tbh.

That’s great! I will talk to his school. His school were good when he was new, but he’s not “new” anymore so he hasn’t been putting in any real effort and neither has the school (why would they). But lovely to hear that yours do nurture groups. I’ll ask his teacher. Should I email her?