Just as fun and friendship can affect engagement and achievement in school, school has a critical role to play in supporting fun and friendship for pupils. The attitudes and opportunities that disabled children and young people encounter at school are hugely influential in shaping their experiences of friendship and in determining the extent to which they are supported to develop and grow.

Schools can be transformative places for disabled children and young people – places where they can thrive educationally and socially, and where these two features of a child or young person’s life can strengthen one another.

Curriculum linked lessons and resources

We’ve produced curriculum linked lessons and resources to help pupils understand that difference shouldn’t be a barrier to friendship and think about what can be done to make schools inclusive environments for all.

You can find all of the resources on our schools page amongst our other learning resources.

We would also love to get your feedback on the resources we have produced. Help us understand whether or not they have been useful by contacting us.

A whole school approach

Promoting positive attitudes to disability, or engaging young people in developing solutions to ensure everyone is included is an important step in changing attitudes and creating an inclusive school environment. However, there are a range of other considerations which go into making a school a positive and enabling place for disabled children and young people to have fun and make friends. This ranges from thinking about how children get to and from school, to school buildings themselves. It takes a whole school approach.

To help, we’ve developed a guide for senior leaders in schools to help them reflect on their current practice and identify strengths and areas for development. Download the guide.

In 2015, BBC Children in Need and Achievement for All worked together to develop an online module for schools to help them support Fun and Friendships for disabled young people. The information here is adapted from the original module, which you can find and access on the Achievement for All website. If you are already a member of Achievement for All we would encourage you to access this content through their site, where it sits within the wider Achievement for All framework.