During this year’s Children’s Mental Health Week, the National Children’s Bureau (NCB) is proud to share two significant new partnerships that will strengthen support for children’s wellbeing and embed preventative, evidence‑informed practice across the education system.
Both the Anti‑Bullying Alliance (ABA) and the Schools Wellbeing Partnership (SWP), based at NCB, have secured multi‑year investments from Bukhman Philanthropies to expand national programmes supporting children and young people.
The Anti‑Bullying Alliance has received £500,000 over three years to enhance its national work preventing bullying and improving wellbeing. Founded in 2002, ABA brings together more than 250 organisations across England, Wales and Northern Ireland, uniting schools, voluntary sector partners and young people to create safer, kinder environments. Although bullying remains one of the most harmful experiences affecting children’s mental health, many schools lack consistent, evidence‑led training and support. This partnership will help close that gap through a coordinated, preventative and system‑wide approach.
Over the next three years, ABA will train more than 750 professionals through high‑quality, evidence‑informed anti‑bullying training; reach 8 million children and young people through Anti‑Bullying Week resources each year; and support at least 90 young people as national change‑makers through the Young Anti‑Bullying Alliance. The investment will also strengthen practice across more than 250 organisations through shared learning, research translation and new tools - including a toolkit for schools designed to help children who bully others reflect on and change harmful behaviour.
Alongside this, the Schools Wellbeing Partnership has announced a new partnership with Bukhman Philanthropies, who are investing over £160,000 across three years to enhance national efforts to support children’s mental health and wellbeing in education.
With more than 300 member organisations and schools, the SWP champions preventative, evidence‑informed whole‑school approaches to wellbeing. This new funding arrives at a critical moment: schools are increasingly the first place where emerging mental health needs are identified, yet many face rising levels of need, limited staff capacity and fragmented guidance. The partnership aims to address these pressures by strengthening collaboration across education, health and the voluntary sector and helping schools embed wellbeing as a whole‑school strategic priority.
Over the next three years, the programme will directly support hundreds of schools and at least 300 school staff through national training, practical guidance and peer learning. Planned activity includes four national training sessions each year for educators; quarterly partnership meetings for over 300 organisations and schools; and new accessible practice guides and policy briefings. A key focus will be embedding the lived experience of children and young people into training, resources and national policy engagement. The programme will also generate new case studies and sector‑wide learning to support more consistent, preventative wellbeing practice across the education system.
Together, these two investments represent a powerful boost for national efforts to create safer, more supportive school environments. By strengthening evidence‑informed practice, amplifying youth voice and deepening collaboration across sectors, NCB and its partners will be better equipped to ensure every child can learn, grow and thrive.
- Further information on both partnerships can be found on the Anti‑Bullying Alliance and Schools Wellbeing Partnership websites.