What Friends Are For Our School

-Today, on Our School, a story of survival...

-Don't give up!

-Oh!

..as the students of Year 7 face one of school's biggest

-challenges...

-That's how I roll!

-..and find that making new friends...

-Psych!

-..may be the best solution.

-Yes!

When you start Year 7, there's loads to look forward to.

Wargh!

But something that lots of students worry about is getting bullied.

People sometimes think bullying is just physical,

or physically hurting someone. That's not the case. OK.

Think about the different ways people can be bullied.

Bullying is rubbish. I hate it. And so do Year 7.

I get called ginger, I'm like

"Oh, my God! Thank you for telling me that(!)"

I have been bullied many times, many different ways.

Verbally, physically.

It doesn't feel good.

I was like in Year 3, 4, when I got bullied

and it was really upsetting because

like, there were kids out there that wanted to make you feel miserable.

It confuses your mind, pretty much.

Like, cos, you know they're wrong, but you're believing them.

It was like, just putting out my confidence

and it was really hard, like, to open up and tell people.

I just feel like going up to them

and grabbing them by the teeth and throwing them away.

I can't do that.

Just ignore them. And I know it's so frustrating when you get told,

"Oh, ignore 'em."

I've seen bullying and I've been bullied

and it's a horrible experience,

but when you tell someone, it can actually be sorted.

Who has heard the rhyme that people say in primary schools

most of the time, many years ago?

Sticks and stones will break my bones,

but name calling will not hurt me.

Who thinks that's true? Put your hands up.

It's not true.

So that is...so untrue.

And Year 7 are not the only ones.

Many of us teachers have been through bullying too.

When I was a kid, I was a bit geeky, a bit dorky,

so yeah, sometimes, I got a bit picked on.

I wore glasses when I was younger

and now everyone today wears glasses and it's part of life.

But I was a little bit different.

And children used to pick up on that.

I was always brought up to sort of tell people,

not to keep it to myself, actually tell an adult, tell a teacher,

tell someone who's older than you,

tell someone who is going to be able to do something about it.

You can go home and think about it a lot and feel a bad human being.

And it shouldn't really happen.

Everyone should be able to get on and be friends.

One great way of beating the bullies is by having good

friends around you, in school and out of it.

Like Abdul and Javonte here.

-I'm going to beat you, Abdul!

-We'll see. May the best man win!

-Me and Javonte have both been friends for seven years.

-Mm-hm.

-By the end of this year, it will be eight years.

-Mm-hm!

-Now let's throw these balls to the pins!

-Oh, yeah!

Yeah!

Go, Abdul, show it what you're made of.

Oh, oh, oh, oh! Hey, hey, hey!

No!

We just, like, make each other laugh.

Better luck next time, Abdul.

We both tell good jokes.

We even do funny raps that makes everyone laugh.

What do you mean "we"?

I can't rap.

Of course you can rap, man!

HE SIGHS

Ah, yes!

That's how I roll!

-I'm happy!

-Nice job!

And Year 7 can mean meeting new mates too.

We're not heating our water yet, guys, OK?

-We're just putting our ice in.

-Michael!

Javonte's got a great friend in Abdul,

and I think he's found another one in Michael.

Right, try it, try it!

Fire!

What Michael loves most is basketball.

Well, and his little sister too.

My dad was saying that I was tall,

so I started playing basketball

and people thought I was good.

-Today, I'm going to teach you how to play basketball, OK?

-Yeah.

I've been teaching Christine to play basketball.

Focus on the ball and bounce slowly.

At the start, she couldn't really bounce the ball.

But now, she's improving and developing.

Well done.

Michael's skills have got him noticed.

I play for Sheffield Sharks.

I think it's a good opportunity, because you can become famous

and, like, show other people and inspire them to play.

Back at home, he's on the ball too.

I help out with washing the dishes, tidying the place.

Whatever Mum needs, really.

Thank you so much for your help.

I think it's important to help at home because most parents,

they help us, so I think we should give it back and help them.

Check him out, he's cutting the grass!

I might get you around to do my garden, Michael.

He may be on task at home, but at school,

Michael can get easily distracted.

Exothermic gives out energy.

Gives it out as light, or heat, or noise,

or fizz.

HE HUMS

Javonte and Michael are both mad about drumming.

THEY SING AND DRUM

Ooh!

We like to, like, make beats on, like, the table,

so, like, we're kind of just, like, banging.

THEY SING AND DRUM

First, he would just be drumming,

and when he stops, I'll start... I'll, like, continue.

HE HUMS

Psych!

Maybe a little less drumming, lads.

You're supposed to be listening to Mr Shaw.

Shh!

-Thank you.

-Ah, that's better.

You take a little scoop of the magnesium turnings...

..and you drop them into the test tube.

-Javonte.

-Sorry, sir.

-Stop.

-OK.

It's not just me, sir.

-No, it's not just you.

-It was me, sir.

-OK.

I like the honesty.

Good to see Michael not letting his mate take the rap.

I think we probably get along pretty well,

and if there were to be any problems...

-They'll be solved straight away.

-Yeah, yeah.

I reckon there's a friend for everyone at secondary school.

You've just got to find 'em.

Let me introduce you to the smartest pair in Year 7.

Meet Maivand and Gresh.

I would describe myself as a geek.

I'm really passionate,

and into lots of different subjects.

I'm into maths, science, English, pretty much all subjects.

I'm kind of a geek and a nerd at the same time.

Hey, I love geeks! Geeks are cool!

Some people call me little names like clever clog,

smarty-pants, smart-o.

217,728, so...

That was easy.

No-one's said anything mean to me about how smart I am.

They just accept it.

Glad to hear it.

I don't want anything like that going on in our school.

Neither Gresh or Maivand were born in the UK,

but now, it's home.

Me and Gresh have a lot of things in common,

such as he came from Poland to England

and I came from Afghanistan.

They used to live 2,500 miles away,

and now, they're best friends.

I've been in England for, now, 11 years.

I think the reason I came to England was cos of the wars in Afghanistan.

It was really hard for me because I barely knew English at all.

I think my teachers taught me, like, "hello", and things like that -

the basics in English, but that's it.

So, basically, I had to start from a new leaf.

I live with my brother, my mum,

and recently, my mum and my dad split up, so...

I still see my dad, but he's just in another area.

Gresh's grandparents are a big part of his life.

My grandparents are in England because they moved here,

so it's, you know, better for all of us.

Yeah?

Hello.

My grandad helps around the allotment.

He builds a lot of stuff.

Gresh always helps his grandad out.

He, you know, cuts up his fingers and all that,

but he hasn't lost a finger as of now,

but he does get himself into trouble a lot of times.

I live with my mum, my dad and my little brother.

Family is really important to Maivand too.

My relationship with my dad is really good.

He teaches me lots of new different types of maths, like algebra,

he teaches me BODMAS, like, really hard.

I learn lots of new things in math like that.

Wow! This is the picture after my birthday.

That was when I was going to England.

I'm glad I came to England

because there's lots of new people that I can meet.

I've made tonnes of new friends.

There's a lot of different people and cultures,

and that's cool and I think that is really good.

Yep! In fact,

we've got pupils from nearly 50 countries here at our school.

But sometimes, getting used to a new home can feel a bit isolating,

so having a good mate is even more important.

In maths, Gresh and Maivand make an amazing team.

-Perfect, and the name?

-Fibonacci sequence.

Fibonacci sequence. Well done!

-What's that?

-You won't know.

That sequence there is called the Fibonacci sequence.

Sometimes, I don't even think they need a teacher.

Every time in class, people would struggle

and the first people they would come to is either me or Maivand,

and then they would go to the teacher if we can't do anything.

No, no, no, no! You start with seven...

-And then do five of them.

-..and you subtract by three.

-Every time.

-Five times.

-Five times, all right. Yeah.

-There you go.

Every now and then, they even test each other.

You've got Professor Gresh here.

In some subjects, we get pretty competitive.

Maybe if we do like a...

like a competition on something,

maybe we have, like, a little project,

maybe we might be competitive on that

and see who gets the best score on something.

OK, so who's the smartest?

Maivand.

Sir, doesn't nature favour those numbers?

So, a snail's shell might have a number in the Fibonacci sequence.

Yes.

Oh, my God! That's so cool.

Whenever I struggle in my lessons - which I do -

then I always go to Maivand,

because I know he's the only person who's smarter than me.

You see? There's a good batch for everyone.

..and 25...

..and 23!

-BOTH:

-Yes!

-You did it!

-That was epic. Epic.

Right, adios, amigos.

When you've found those friendships, you've got to work at them.

It's one of the best ways of staying happy in Year 7.

Michael's invited new pal Javonte to see how they match up at basketball.

-I can't get the ball, man!

-Don't give up!

We haven't known each other for a long time, but it feels like

I've known him forever.

We have a good relationship and like,

we're always there for each other.

And if there's, like, a problem, we'll talk about it and then,

like, we can solve it.

Finally!

And now that we're out of school, you can drum all you like.

THEY DRUM

HE VOCALLY DRUMS

LAUGHTER

Let's make a pact.

The pact should be, like, to always, always look out for each other.

Somebody's, like, messing with you or annoying you,

like, you could stick up for them.

-Always have a good friendship, no matter what.

-Yeah.

-And always trust each other with problems.

-Yeah.

There you go. New friendship cemented.

That's what Year 7 is all about.

Oh, and maths.

It's always about maths.

LAUGHTER

I made a song up about being me.

It's not mostly about being me,

it's about telling people to just go away,

not mess with me.

So, it goes like this.

# My name is Abdul, rap is what I do

# And now while I'm here, I've got a rap for you

# You've got one chick? Well, I've got two

# So back up, go home, get lost

# You're through. #