Reflect

I found an email recently that I wrote to myself back in the year 2020 when Tooled Up was active in six schools. It reminded me of how delighted I was by that progress! Roll on to 2026, and we now support 166 schools in eight countries. In 2025, I delivered 136 talks to parents and educators with the sole mission of empowering every attendee through the dissemination of evidence-based ideas and insights. Beyond dissemination, we curate content and develop resources that can actually be used, applied, tried or implemented at home or in school. So, as a team, we are always thinking of how a busy teacher or parent could possibly apply this knowledge to good effect in the context of their lives.

We are a very busy team, as on a daily basis we are responding to parents and educators who are seeking ideas, support and resources that they can use directly with the children and young people in their lives. Recently, a Tooled Up parent wrote to ask what they should do as their primary-aged child had inadvertently seen pornography. Over the weekend, a Dad was in touch, wondering about the best ways to support his young children through parental separation. Every Tooled Up parent is a parent who adores their child and wants the best for them - that is what connects us. We aren’t always going to ‘get it right’ as parents, but together, supported by research insights, we can take action that feels sensible and that we individually feel is best for our children.

Highlights in any year for me always relate back to impact, which is why I was so delighted to hear from Barnaby Brewer’s dad Jonathan, who told me how listening to a particular Tooled Up webinar caused him to reflect and alter the way in which he responded to his son. This transformed their relationship, and arguably Barnaby’s feelings about himself and what he was capable of. Read more about this inspiring story in this Wednesday Wisdom article.

Other emails stick happily in my mind too - one from a mum whose child struggled to stop sobbing at the school gate every morning (for a year!). One particular Tooled Up tip encouraged the parent to do something slightly different which worked and then, once repeated, alleviated the separation anxiety. The good thing about Tooled Up is that we aren’t dragging ideas out of thin air or off Google, but from the evidence-base.

Motivate

Over the next month alone, we’re hosting expert-led webinars on a diverse range of pressing issues facing families and schools. These include staff CPD on embedding the updated RSHE curriculum, as well as open webinars on supporting children through parental separation after abuse (with insights from both a family lawyer and family therapist), digital risks and harms affecting teens, spotting the early signs of eating disorders, supporting ageing loved ones, and using AI safely and responsibly.

We invite our subscribers to join us at any of these events and hope to see many of you there. As always, all of these webinars will be added to our online platform, along with full and detailed accompanying notes for anyone short on time.

Looking ahead, on Friday, February 6th, we’re excited to host our first online conference of the year for Tooled Up educators. Designed to equip school staff with practical strategies for supporting children and young people facing complex challenges, the conference brings together 11 expert speakers. Topics include anger and violence in the home, gang involvement, problematic sexual behaviour, misogyny, conspiracy beliefs, cybercrime and affluent neglect. Book your place now.

One of the most interesting aspects of our work is sharing cutting-edge research with our community. We’re currently excited to be collaborating with a team from the University of Manchester and other partners on the UKRI-funded #So.Me project. The researchers are developing a new measure to better understand young people’s use of social media and its relationship to mental health and wellbeing, alongside creating social media literacy lesson resources for secondary schools. At the moment, we are supporting the lesson content and design work, and the resources will be available on the Tooled Up platform for testing later this month. The research team would appreciate any or all feedback from our pastoral leaders.

We’ve already lined up our Researchers of the Month for Spring 2026. Over the coming months, keep an eye out for articles and interviews on topics including the power of reading and why it matters for children’s learning and wellbeing (Dr Maria Korochkina), young people’s experiences of ADHD and what better support can look like (Daphne Ling), and the ‘universal classroom’ project, exploring how classrooms can be designed to meet the needs of all learners (Professor Joel Talcott). We’ll be further developing our growing partnerships with experts on a variety of topics as the year unfolds.

Alongside all of this, the research team is currently keeping very busy with numerous new resources in production. These include new guidance on AI and online safety for young people with special educational needs, peer reading scheme materials for schools, and lesson plans to coincide with Holocaust Memorial Day (27 January) and International Mother Language Day (21 February). We’re also pleased to be doing our bit for the National Literacy Trust’s ‘Year of Reading’ by adding a list of newly published children’s books to the platform each month. Check out our list of top new titles for January now.

Remember, if you are a Tooled Up parent or work at any of our subscriber schools or businesses and you can’t find what you need on the platform, you can always contact us and we’ll create it for you.

Support

In 2025, that support has taken on an additional dimension. For the past twelve months, we have worked hard to stay ahead of the curve, exploring how emerging technology might genuinely serve our community, not as a gimmick, but as a tool rooted in trust, rigour and care. And so, we are proud to share something we have been building with real intention.

Meet TULA, our ‘Tooled Up Learning Assistant’.

Over the years, Tooled Up has grown into a rich and extensive knowledge base, grounded in research-led integrity. The depth and breadth of our resources is something we are immensely proud of. At the same time, we understand the realities of modern family, work and school life. Parents and school staff are often extremely busy, often juggling many demands, and sometimes need fast, clear and trusted answers without the time or headspace to search, read, watch or listen to multiple resources. TULA was created to bridge that gap.

At its heart, TULA is designed to feel like a real conversation, as if you were sitting down with our research team, alongside our wider network of clinicians, specialists and researchers, asking the question that’s on your mind right now. Powered by AI, but grounded entirely in Tooled Up’s own research-led content, TULA provides timely, relevant guidance in a clear and accessible way.

Unlike most AI tools, TULA doesn’t roam the internet or draw from unverified sources. Everything it shares comes exclusively from Tooled Up’s carefully curated, evidence-based resources. It always shows you where its guidance comes from and links directly back to the original articles, webinars, podcasts or activities, so you can explore further whenever you wish.

Importantly, TULA is not a replacement for our resources, nor for our dedicated research team who continue to develop and publish them, and answer your direct requests for support. Instead, it is a new way of accessing that expertise, and one that can save time, reduce overwhelm and help parents feel supported in the moments that matter most.

Over many hours of testing and development, we have focused on making TULA genuinely helpful: intuitive to use, flexible in tone and depth, and able to take into account things like the age of your child if you choose to share that context. Conversations are saved, so you can return to them, reflect on progress, or pick up where you left off.

We are currently running pilot trials with a small number of schools, listening carefully and refining TULA ahead of a wider rollout. We are planning to launch to all Tooled Up members in early February, and we are incredibly excited about what this means for the future of trusted parenting support.

We hope that sharing this glimpse behind the scenes gives a sense of the care, thought and ambition that continues to shape Tooled Up. As ever, we are also very much still human. Our support and research teams are always here when you need us, whether you’re navigating a tricky topic or wrestling with a technical gremlin.

Last year was one of growth and meaningful change for Tooled Up Education. As we begin 2026, we do so with fresh energy, big ideas and a renewed commitment to helping families, schools and companies feel informed, confident and supported.