Beyond the crisis: Why we must strengthen what helps children thrive

There is a growing sense of urgency about children and young people's experiences. The question now is how we respond—and what we choose to build.

The Children's Society's Good Childhood Report 2026 documents concerning patterns in wellbeing. Professor Peter Fonagy's independent review raises challenging questions about mental health, neurodevelopmental needs and the systems that support children. The Department for Education's school belonging research adds a vital perspective on young people's everyday experiences.

Together, these sources demand attention. They also invite us to widen the conversation.

Listen to what makes life good, too

When we focus only on difficulties, we risk losing sight of the things children value: trusted relationships, chances to take part, feeling safe, having choices and seeing possibilities for themselves.

The Good Childhood Report places belonging at the heart of its recommendations, using four interconnected ideas: People, Places, Power and Pathways. It is an invitation to ask not simply what young people lack, but what helps them feel that they matter.

Inclusion is not the same as belonging

The DfE school belonging case studies underline the significance of everyday school culture, relationships, recognition and participation.

A young person may be included in school life without feeling that they have a meaningful say or something valuable to contribute. Belonging becomes more substantial when children can help shape their surroundings, use their strengths and discover that their contributions count.

Strengths matter—especially when life is difficult

In his letter You are not fragile. You are outnumbered, Professor Peter Fonagy invites reflection on the influence of the world around us and on how we understand distress.

Recognising a child's needs is essential. So is ensuring those needs do not become the whole story we tell about them.

A child can be struggling and growing at the same time. They can need support and also have strengths to develop, choices to make and something important to contribute.

Strengths-based practice is not empty praise or an instruction to think positively. It involves noticing capability and providing opportunities to use it. Often an adult sees a strength in a young person before that young person can see it themselves.

Adults are the lived curriculum

Children learn about relationships through the relationships they experience. They learn about managing feelings, responding to setbacks and adapting to change partly through what adults model every day.

But staff and parents do not matter only because of the influence they have on children. Adults matter as human beings in their own right. Their sense of belonging, capacity to cope and opportunities to develop should be part of our ambition for a psychologically fit school community.

A broader understanding of prevention

Earlier identification and access to the right care are crucial. They are not, however, the whole of prevention. Schools and communities can also strengthen capabilities and conditions that support people through ordinary life as well as difficult times.

At Bounce Forward, psychological fitness means developing the capacity to regulate, recover and adapt: through emotional understanding, thinking skills, relationships, strengths, agency and opportunities to practise them.

This does not replace clinical support when it is needed. Nor does it put the responsibility for coping solely on the individual. It recognises that skills and environments both matter.

Measure what matters. Then act on it.

Schools already gather extensive information on attainment, attendance, behaviour and additional needs. These measures are important, but they do not reveal everything about the experience of being part of a school.

The Happy Schools Index creates a way to hear more directly from young people about their lives. Measuring happiness must never become an expectation that everyone should feel happy all the time. It is a way into a fuller conversation about the things that support or undermine wellbeing.

And measurement is only a beginning. If we listen to pupils, staff and families, we must be prepared to learn from what they tell us—identifying not only where something needs to change but also what is already working and deserves protecting.

Read more about what happens after we listen.

What should we build next?

There is much to be concerned about in the evidence, and we must not overlook those who are struggling or waiting for the support they need. But there is also much to recognise, protect and strengthen.

Children have strengths, hopes, relationships and ambitions. Schools and communities already create powerful moments of connection and growth. The challenge is to make these conditions less dependent on chance.

We need to hold two ambitions together: get better at responding when young people struggle, and become much more intentional about building what helps them live well.