Britvic partner with Bounce Forward
Today, Britvic announces that it will be working us, to help students with their emotional wellbeing and mental resilience, in a multi-year funding partnership.
The partnership
The announcement follows research 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.
These findings come as Britvic has announced a multi-year funding partnership with Bounce Forward aiming to integrate wellbeing into the core school curriculum.
Teachers are often the first port of call for students struggling with the challenges of everyday life, with three in five (64%) teachers admitting that their students turn to them at least once a week for advice about their wellbeing. But it’s not just students that look to education professionals. Over half of parents (53%) would turn to teachers if they were concerned with their child’s mental resilience. Whereas only a third (34%) would turn to their GP.
Despite the classroom being the place that both parents and students turn for support, three quarters (76%) of teachers feel that they lack the time and a third (33%) believe they don’t have the skillset to handle supporting children with these challenges.
Recognising the importance of helping students cope with everyday challenges like homework, disagreements with friends or challenges at home, nine in ten (89%) teachers believe they would benefit from additional training in mental resilience and emotional wellbeing. Parents also agree schools should be better equipped, with 77% believing they need greater resources to help children prepare for the mental and emotional challenges of life.
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. The funding is equipping the schools and their teachers with access to high quality training, evidenced based teaching and learning resources, to deliver weekly lessons so children can learn and develop skills and tools that build their mental resilience and emotional wellbeing, so they become healthy and happy adults.
Healthier people, healthier planet
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:
“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:
“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
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
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