The BOUNCE Programme
BOUNCE is a whole-school wellbeing programme supporting pupils, staff, and parents to create a calm, connected, resilient learning environment.
Overview
A whole-child, whole-school approach that builds the emotional skills and mentally healthy habits children need to thrive — in school and in life.
The programme grows with pupils through clear developmental levels (Little BOUNCE → Learn2BOUNCE → BOUNCE → BOUNCE Higher) and celebrates progress with achievement badges from Reception to Year 6 (Spotter → Trailblazer).
Designed by child clinical psychologists and mental health experts, BOUNCE is:
- Science-informed
- Easy to implement
- Adaptable to your school’s needs
Equipping all with BOUNCE core skills
At the heart of the BOUNCE Programme is the belief that emotional wellbeing grows best when everyone is supported — not just the child. That’s why we equip pupils, parents, and teachers with shared skills, language, and strategies they can use every day. Engaging lessons, animations and practical resources made by us for parents, teachers, and children allows you to start building resilience straight away.
Practical Resources
Visual prompts and BOUNCE classroom packs — lanyards, posters, reminders, cards, calming tools, and activities.
Lessons - 4 per half term
Structured lessons for every year group with clear learning outcomes linked to PSHE Association and Ofsted
Skill Badges
Colourful yearly BOUNCE level badges, task lists, and journals to track, motivate and celebrate pupil progress.
Teachers Toolkit
Teacher videos, guides and cheat sheets for consistent delivery and confidence. Tools to support staff wellbeing too.
Parents Toolkit
Videos and information sheets to extend tools and language into the home and build parenting confidence.
Senior Leadership Toolkit
Leadership toolkit to embed and sustain a whole-school wellbeing culture saving time, resources and overwhelm.
BOUNCE Curriculum Journey
BOUNCE grows with your pupils, building knowledge, language, and skills in age-appropriate, engaging ways. Its four sections can be used together for a whole-school programme or individually for a flexible, staged approach.
How Children Grow with BOUNCE
Emotional skills take time to build — just like reading or maths. The BOUNCE Programme supports children to grow these skills step by step, with age-appropriate teaching, clear progression, and regular opportunities to practise and reflect.
A Growing Journey Through BOUNCE
There are four sections of the BOUNCE journey, each tailored to match children’s developmental stage.
These sections can be purchased flexibly, either altogether building a spiral curriculum and shared language across the whole school, or separately depending on your schools needs and resources.
For school wanting to take a first step on The BOUNCE Programme, we would recommend starting with Little BOUNCE or Learn2BOUNCE building foundation skills from the youngest upwards.
Skill-Level Badges: A Milestone Each Year
Every year, children work towards one of six BOUNCE skill-level badges, each one representing a new stage in their emotional development:
- Starter - Starting to use feeling words (R-Y1)
- Spotter – Spotting how I feel and trying things that help (Y2)
- Explorer – My brain & calming big feelings to think more clearly (Y3)
- Navigator – Growing confidence to face challenges(Y4)
- Adventurer – Healthy relationships & growing independence (Y5)
- Trailblazer - Looking forward, leading the way & helping others (Y6)
The badges mark real emotional growth and give pupils a strong sense of achievement and progress.
10 Core Skills & 6 Healthy Habits That Build Over Time
Children gradually develop 10 core emotional skills, from learning to press pause in difficult moments to recognising unhelpful thoughts, asking for help, solving problems, and more.
These skills are developmentally sequenced across the five levels, with each year building on the last — allowing children to deepen their self-awareness, emotional control, and coping strategies as they grow.
Alongside their core skills, children also learn 6 mentally healthy habits that teach them how to look after their mental health and strengthen wellbeing over the long term.
The Result?
By the time children earn their Trailblazer badge and complete BOUNCE Higher in Year 6, they’ve developed a strong foundation of emotional skills and habits to take with them into secondary school — ready to face life’s ups and downs with confidence and care.
Start Your Journey with BOUNCE A 1st step: Year 3 Term Taster
