Bullying rates revealed as top psych warns of social issues for students entering Year 7 in 2022

Almost half of all students are bullied in Year 4 while by the start of high school almost every single student finds changes to their friendship circle emotionally challenging, new research reveals.

Almost half of all students are bullied in Year 4 while by the start of high school almost every single student finds changes to their friendship circle emotionally challenging, new research reveals.

And a leading child psychologist says schools have to strive to make life happy for returning schoolkids.

“I’m pleading with schools to make sure they put the emphasis on wellbeing, not on academic performance, and just allow kids to reconnect and make connections with their social networks,” Dr Michael Carr-Gregg said.

Vicky Cui and Isabel He made friends quickly after starting high school together. Picture: Justin Lloyd

It is expected that Year 7 students will have particular difficulty making friends next year because they are still recovering from months of missed school, which damaged their social networks.

The research was compiled by leading mental health platform Skodel based on thousands of students’ responses to questions at hundreds of schools around the nation.

It shows 49 per cent of children in Year 4 reported being bullied at least once that year and 96 per cent of children in Year 7 said changing friendships had impacted on their emotional wellbeing.

And by the first two years of high school, 74 per cent of children said they had issues getting a good night’s sleep, while by Year 12 two-thirds of all students reported being “very anxious”.

Dr Carr-Gregg said the data reflected issues such as sleep deprivation school principals had been dealing with in the past few years thanks to screen addiction.

“I am very worried about this particular year who enter high school in 2022: Year 7s are going to be very significantly at risk because they have had such a disruptive Year 6,” he said. He said parents of children who struggled socially could learn skills online to rebuff bullies while there were techniques unpopular kids could learn online to help them make friends.

“Adolescent psychologists have a bunch of strategies we can teach these kids to prepare them for the jungle that is the schoolyard in Year 7,” he said.

“The basic thing is don’t have your face on your phone the whole time, talk to people and smile.”

Skodel co-founder Ian Fagan said students either came from primary school with heaps of friends or didn’t know anyone but were excited to make them.

Meanwhile, another group of students would feel enormously fearful about a new school environment and it was important schools helped them meet new people.

“Strong friendships and connections are fundamental to student wellbeing and resilience,” he said.

In Arcadia, in Sydney’s northwest, Northholm Grammar School principal Christopher Bradbury said they held a camp in the first weeks of Year 7 so students got to know one another very quickly.

It is a technique which worked for Year 7 student Isabel He, who developed a strong friendship with her classmate Vicky Cui.

“High school was scary at first but once we met everyone at school it was fun,” she said.

Vicky Cui said the best friends follow each other on Instagram and Snapchat and on Sundays they both go to nippers together.

“For me it was fun and I looked forward to meeting all these new people because at high school they don’t treat you like you’re really little anymore,” she said.