News and blog

Apple's Friends

Skills for Life programmes embed the whole school approach

Here at Oldham Council, we are passionate about embedding The Whole School Approach to Emotional Health and Mental Wellbeing.
Compulsory health education in schools

From September 2020 Relationship and Health Education will be compulsory in Primary Schools in England.
New NGO Zippy, Slovakia

Zippy’s Friends has been running in Slovakia since 2013, with the programme currently in its sixth school year.
UK Trainers’ Conference

Eight trainers from around the UK gathered in Birmingham to share best practice and hear about programme developments.
Flash the hamster celebrates Children’s Mental Health Week!

Monday 4th February 2019 was the start of Children’s Mental Health Week and we were delighted to visit an Apple’s Friends class at Merton Park School in south London.
Chinese teachers celebrate three years of Apple’s Friends

Around 100 Apple’s Friends teachers from all over China gathered at Hongxinghai Primary and Middle School in Dalian to celebrate three hugely successful years.
Prime Minister’s praise for Lithuanian partner

The incredible contribution our partner Vaiko Labui makes to the lives of Lithuanian children was recently recognised by the Prime Minister of Lithuania!
Upcoming Training in the UK

Our upcoming training dates for autumn 2018 are below. If you can’t see one in your area, please look at our list of Licensed Trainers and contact them directly to arrange a training.
Adverse Childhood Experiences – what do we know? What can we do?

As an educational psychologist I have always been aware of how an individual’s early life and in particular their attachment experiences impact on their cognitive, social and emotional development.
Using Zippy’s Friends and Apple’s Friends to help with transition

School transitions can be an unsettling time for both teachers and pupils and may bring up difficult feelings. To help your new class or current class with the transition to a new year group and teacher, try these Zippy’s Friends and Apple’s Friends ideas at the end or beginning of term:
Apple’s Friends – following Zippy across the world

Ever since Zippy’s Friends was first trialled over 17 years ago, teachers have asked, ‘What’s next?’ After many years and stages of development, Apple’s Friends has been launched as the follow-up programme to Zippy. However, children don’t have to have done Zippy to do Apple – it can be run as a programme by itself.
Apple's Friends in action

Lucy Stevens is the SENCO of Berry Hill Primary School in Gloucestershire. She has been running Apple’s Friends with a Year 3 class since November 2016. Read our interview with her.
How can coping skills help children deal with bullying?

Bullying is not only horrible to experience, but research shows it can have long-term detrimental effects on mental health.