Mr. Ben Holmes:

Within primary school and even secondary school there is exclusion and situations where people do not necessarily want to be forced to be friends with someone else. In the past if a young person has been excluded or somebody does not want to be friends with them we have told them it is the fault of the person who does not want to be friends with them. We have blamed the people who are doing the excluding. As much as a young person should not exclude a person, especially in a very negative way where it is associated with bullying, as Ms Connolly said, it is useful to teach children better social skills and advise them these are the things they can do to improve. Some young people as they move into their teenage years can go through their whole lives thinking that for some reason people do no like them or do not want to be friends with them. They have never been told they can do these things to improve their social skills and learn to make friends better, and that is essential.