Frequently Asked Questions

What’s so special about Connect?

Today’s children face unique challenges, and their wellbeing and mental health is under huge pressure.

Connect is a wellbeing curriculum that is guided by the scientific literature. Specifically, that psychologically healthy people tend to engage in 6 behaviours (connecting with others, challenging oneself, giving to others, exercising, embracing the moment and self-care), and our curriculum is built around them. Find out more about these on Our approach page. We also train teaching staff in the ‘DNA-V model’, an evidence-based wellbeing intervention for young people, through our pre-recorded online training and our day long webinars that we provide, for free, three times a year.

At Connect we are committed to providing a curriculum that really works. We have an active Connect research program, where we measure the impact that the curriculum has on wellbeing, behaviour, academic performance, pro-social actions and even friendship networks.

What do I get by becoming a member?

Instant access to over 250 weekly lesson plans (with associated PowerPoint files, worksheets and audio files) that are divided according to age; that is, there are 30 Lesson plans for each year group from ages 4-11, plus an Introductory Term for each year group (so the children get familiar with the key language and concepts). You also get access to our Toolbox with bonus reference materials and printable resources, such as end-of-term certificates.

Our online training is instantly available upon sign-up, so you can start your Connect journey straight away. We recommend the training for all teachers that will be delivering Connect lessons, as it will walk you through the basics of our curriculum. We also run three free online top-up training webinars a year for members.

What is the online training all about?

Teaching staff, effectively. We do this because (1) it is important that teachers know the model in order to be able to deliver the lesson plans well and (2) because we want the school to immerse themselves in the language of the model so that it can be useful at any point i.e. we feel that 45 minutes a week of intervention may not hit home but teachers that are fluent in the model might use the language at other times throughout the week.

Can you come and train us?

We do offer face-to-face training at an extra cost. If you are interested in this then please reach out via the contact form to discuss your bespoke training needs.

Why is it free?

In response to the growing global mental health epidemic, Governments throughout the world are realising that early intervention is better than specialist support later in life. One effective way to do this is with simple psycho-education skills development, curriculum-based, interventions in schools. We believe Connect can help make the world a better place and we intend to keep it free for all children for as long as we can.

Do we have to do the wellbeing themes in order?

Sometimes, different lessons within the same wellbeing theme (e.g. give to others) are connected, or build on each other, and the lessons within each theme are also ordered to build DNA-V skills in a particular sequence, meaning that it is probably best to deliver the lessons within a theme in the order they are presented. However, which theme you deliver is totally up to you.

It is worth noting that if you were feeling creative, then you could choose to chunk the lessons according to the DNA-V skill instead of the wellbeing theme. For example, you could have a whole semester on the Discoverer skill, which spans across multiple wellbeing themes. If you do this, you'll just have to make sure that the lessons you choose aren't reliant on the lesson just before it, or just after it, in the wellbeing theme in which they are housed. 

How do we evidence learning across time?

For good reason, governmental bodies require evidence that learning has taken place when it comes to wellbeing curriculum. Within Connect, there are a few ways to track learning. 

Firstly, most lessons have worksheets that can be kept in some sort of learning diary or book.

Secondly, every so often we suggest putting in a 'Reflection and Celebration' lesson (found underneath the main curriculum on the Lessons tab). The final part of these lessons asks the children to record some of their Connect learnings, and we'd encourage you to help children keep these safe, and to continue adding to them, for the entire of primary school.

Finally, on our Toolbox, you'll find Success Statements Tracker spreadsheets, which will help you to keep an eye on progress with respect to specific DNA-V skills. 

Can we deliver Connect to mixed age group classes?

Connect was written so that each age category would have 30 lessons. If there are mixed groups then it risks the same material being taught to some children twice, whilst other material not being taught at all. There are two things to say about this.

Firstly, if individual schools are able to organize who teaches what age group a couple of years in advance, then it would mitigate against repeat lessons or missed content. 

Secondly, we're not too worried about this. Our curriculum is based on the idea that multiple exposure to the 6 ways to wellbeing and the DNA-V model will accumulate across time. So the individual activities dont matter as much as exposure to those psychological ideas. 

However, the reality is that a repeat of a lesson is unlikely given that the discussion and ideas from different classes is likely to be different, and that if a main activity is repeated then children are unlikely to remember it. 

Do teachers have to be the one's to deliver it?

No, is the short answer here! 

Teachers and anyone else within a school will likely be at the start of their Connect journey together, and so whilst we like the idea that everyone completes the 1 hour pre-recorded training (because it will help the school as a whole to adopt the language of DNA-V) anyone can deliver the lessons provided that they have completed the training and have good behaviour management skills. 

Do we have to stick to the timings on the lesson plans?

No, they are there only as a suggestion. The reality is that you'll shorten or lengthen plans depending on a variety of factors. Dont worry about doing this, children are going to recieve plenty of opportunity to practice these skills over the course of their primary years.

If you do want to shorten a lesson plan, then go straight to the 'Teacher's Introduction to the Lesson' and follow it with the 'Main Activity'. 

How do we let parents know about what we're doing in Connect lessons?

Well, the beauty of Connect being free is that you can point parents to the website and get them to sign up! That way, they'll be able to see exactly what their child is being taught. We'd even encourage you to get the parents to watch the pre-recorded training, to increase the chances that the messages about thoughts and feelings being delivered at home are consistent with those being delivered in school. It's worth noting that on our Toolbox, we also have a letter about Connect for parents that you can download and send on.