- Britvic has announced a multi-year funding partnership with Bounce Forward aiming to integrate mental resilience and wellbeing training into the core school curriculum.
- The partnership will provide schools with teacher training and learning resources to help children build their psychological fitness.
- The announcement comes as Britvic and Bounce Forward launch new research revealing that three in five (58%) parents surveyed expressed concerns about their child's mental resilience and emotional wellbeing.
Today, Britvic announces that it will be working with wellbeing charity, Bounce Forward, to help students with their emotional wellbeing and mental resilience, in a multi-year funding partnership.
As part of the partnership between Britvic and Bounce Forward, Britvic employees have nominated almost 150 schools in their communities to receive fully funded support from Bounce Forward to help children with their mental resilience and emotional wellbeing.
The announcement follows researched conducted on behalf of Britvic that found three in five (58%) parents are concerned about their child's mental resilience and emotional wellbeing, and more than four in five (81%) parents believe mental health should be part of the curriculum alongside Maths and English for children primary and secondary school.
The need to support teachers with pupil wellbeing is clear as a third (33%) say they don't have the skillset to handle supporting children with these challenges.
This initiative forms part of Britvic's Healthier People Healthier Planet sustainable business strategy which includes making a meaningful contribution to local communities. The business has focused on supporting young people for some time, including through a partnership with The Prince's Trust, our apprenticeships, assisted internships and by joining the Government's Kickstart scheme to support early careers programmes.
Kathryn Partridge, Britvic group corporate affairs director, said: "Through our new charity partnership, Britvic is supporting Bounce Forward to help more children build their psychological fitness, and help ignite the conversation about the importance of children's mental resilience.
"Britvic is committed to having a positive impact on the communities in which we operate through our Healthier People, Healthier Planet sustainable business programme. We are delighted to have begun our partnership with Bounce Forward and are excited to support this important cause."
Lucy Bailey, CEO & Founder of Bounce Forward, said: "I know teachers recognise the need to teach mental resilience and emotional wellbeing, but the reality is that this type of teaching and learning is not given the space in the curriculum that it deserves. Parents and students are looking to the classroom for advice as they struggle in the face of unprecedented mental health challenges, and the disruption to learning and life chances caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The question now is: can we afford to ignore the need for mental health education any longer?
"Now more than ever we need to build psychological fitness in children, young people and the adults around them to ensure a thriving society that can navigate the 21st century. Through our partnership with Britvic, we can shift the narrative from a 'mental health crisis' to one of empowerment for the next generation by supporting schools across the nation to better prepare young people with the mental and emotional agility they need to lead fulfilling and healthy lives."
Notes to editors
Polling is conducted by Opinium on behalf of Britvic and Bounce Forward. Online interviews were conducted among a national representative sample of parents and teachers between 06 April and 17 April 2023.
- 2,000 UK parents with children at primary or secondary school
- 326 teachers of children at primary or secondary schools
For further information please contact:
About Bounce Forward
Bounce Forward is a national charity delivering inspiring and practical training and teaching resources to support young people to reach their full potential in life.
Our training programmes engage teachers, parents and others around children and young people to develop psychological fitness. Psychological fitness combines mental resilience and emotional wellbeing, both key attributes needed for success in future.
We provide a framework of skills to young people to be better placed to face the complexities of tomorrow and make the most of their future. We have over thirteen years of experience and have trained over 12,000 teachers from 1,751 schools, 13,000 parents and our lessons have reached more than a million young people.
Our impact and passion go beyond the delivery of training and teaching resources - at the heart of our work is research and we are driving a movement to influence UK policy around education to form a positive system of change.
Our Vision: A nation where young people look after their psychological fitness, are mentally resilient, emotionally well and thrive in life.
Our Mission: To give school communities relevant and practical training, skills and resources they need to build young people's psychological fitness.
The Value in what we do
- Mental resilience is not just about overcoming setbacks it's also about making the most of opportunities
- We base our approach and training on solid research, theory and evidence
- We teach skills and strategies that work in the real world
- The adults matter: their role is vital in helping children and young people be resilient and thrive
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BRITVIC PLC 
