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Since its original development in 2013, Zippy’s Friends for Pupils with Special Educational Needs has been adopted by schools across the UK and by a number of Partnership for Children’s overseas partners.

As schools start to prepare for more children to return to the classroom, there is increasing concern about the impact the Covid-19 pandemic has had and continues to have on pupils mental wellbeing.

Partnership for Children is pleased to be supporting Place2Be’s Children’s Mental Health Week 2020 (3-9 February).

The Education Endowment Foundation have released a new guidance document which focuses on how primary schools can evaluate & develop a curriculum which supports all children’s social & emotional skills.

World Mental Health Day is marked on the 10th October each year to raise awareness of mental health issues around the world and to mobilise efforts in support of mental health.

We are delighted to be working in partnership with Oldham Council and Oldham Opportunity Area to offer our Skills for Life Programmes to primary schools in the region.

Charlotte Loveday in is a HLTA in Lincolnshire. She’s found lots of ways to make her Zippy’s Friends sessions a special part of the school day.

This was not the first time that the Prosecutor’s Office in Petrozavodsk in Karelia (north-west Russia) had tried to stop Zippy’s Friends in schools.

CASEL has analysed numerous research studies from around the world, producing solid evidence that promoting SEL also improves children’s academic performance.

From September 2019, our new Skills for Life programme, Passport will be available to UK schools.

We are delighted to be offering our Skills for Life mental health promotion programmes free of charge to primary schools across Dumfries and Galloway.

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

From September 2020 Relationship and Health Education will be compulsory in Primary Schools in England.

In March 2019, we visited Burpham Primary School CoIN Centre in Guildford to observe a Zippy's Friends for Pupils with Special Needs class.

Zippy has travelled far and wide over the past 20 years, since his first trip to Copenhagen to meet the pilot groups of Danish children.

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

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.

Partnership for Children is pleased to be supporting Place2Be’s Children’s Mental HealthWeek 2019 (4-10 February). 

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.

In November 2018, our Programme Director Caroline and Project Manager Hannah visited Kuwait to deliver training on Zippy’s Friends for Special Needs to our partner, COPING.

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

SPARK Resilience, has already been running in Japan for a few years, so Caroline went to meet Hiromi Imamura, director and trainer at the Japan Positive Education Association to hear about their experience of the programme. 

Zippy’s Friends has been introduced into Korea by the Mental Health Welfare Centre in Gwangju, in the south of the country. Caroline Egar visits a lively school in Korea.

Moving from primary to secondary school can be a difficult time. That’s why we are delighted to be involved in a fantastic adventure story book Curse of the Nomed.

The Zippy’s Friends programme in Panama has transcended school classrooms and has become a way to involve teachers, parents, families, whole schools and the community, with everyone cooperating to promote children’s emotional well-being.