Supporting children from armed forces families through the Zippy’s Friends programme

Children from armed forces families can experience unique emotional challenges, including separation from parents during deployment, frequent relocations, and disruptions to friendships and routines. At St Nicholas Primary School in Leicestershire, staff have been using the Zippy’s Friends programme to help children build emotional literacy, communication skills and healthy coping strategies.

Partnership for Children visited the school to observe the delivery of the programme with a small group of Key Stage 2 service children and to explore the impact it is having on pupils and staff.

Creating a safe space to talk about feelings

The session observed was part of Module 2: Good Communication, delivered by an emotional literacy support assistant (ELSA) to a small group of three children. Resources were thoughtfully prepared in advance, and the structure of the session was clear and reassuring for the children. Ground rules were revisited at the start, and pupils showed confidence in recalling both the rules and the programme characters from earlier sessions.

Children were highly engaged throughout, enthusiastically contributing ideas and listening carefully to one another. When reminders were needed, pupils quickly responded and reengaged with discussion, demonstrating growing self-regulation and respect for others’ views.

Small group delivery with big impact

The small group format worked particularly well, allowing activities and discussions to be adapted to individual needs. Instructions were broken down sensitively, and additional support was provided where required, ensuring that all children could participate successfully.

The My Zippy workbooks were especially popular, giving children a sense of ownership and pride in their learning. Pupils spoke warmly about enjoying the stories and activities, and about how the programme helps them talk about their feelings and find ways to cope when emotions feel overwhelming.

“I like learning how to feel better when I’m sad.”

Pupil

Staff reflections: impact on pupils

Discussions with school staff highlighted the positive impact Zippy’s Friends is already having. Teachers and support staff reported seeing children using a wider emotional vocabulary, sharing ideas more confidently, and experiencing fewer behavioural outbursts as the programme has progressed.

Staff particularly valued the structured and sequential nature of the programme, noting that it provides a clearer framework than other approaches previously used. The balance of preparation and flexibility allows adults to focus on children’s responses and emotional development, rather than lesson planning.

Overall, the visit demonstrated strong, positive implementation of Zippy’s Friends for this group of forces children. The children were engaged, articulate, and clearly benefiting from opportunities to explore emotions, communication and coping strategies in a supportive environment.

St Nicholas Primary School’s commitment to emotional wellbeing was evident throughout the visit, and it was encouraging to see Zippy’s Friends playing such a meaningful role in that work.

Schools interested in strengthening emotional wellbeing support for service children may wish to consider how the Service Pupil Premium (SPP) could be used to fund targeted interventions such as Zippy’s Friends, helping children build resilience, emotional literacy and positive coping strategies.