News and blog

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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:

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.

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.

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