Reflect

A quick browse through the news only left me with the sense that the world is becoming more fragmented and uncertain, and less caring. Almost all of the content I came across was packed with division, fear and the rhetoric of war. I found numerous articles focused on potential living cost increases in countries fortunate enough not to be directly involved in conflict. I read that, in the UK, there has been the first overall drop in charitable donations since 2021, with overseas aid charities and disaster appeals among the worst impacted. Depressingly, the Guardian linked this not only to rising living costs, but to ‘a more general fraying of social bonds’. Earlier this week, in London, four community ambulances run by a Jewish, volunteer-led charity, were shockingly destroyed in an arson attack which is now being treated as an antisemitic hate crime. And as Kathy discussed in last week’s Wednesday Wisdom, divisive manosphere influencers have been brought sharply into focus since the launch of Louis Theroux’s recent Netflix documentary.

Amidst this prevailing sense of doom and gloom, finding a hopeful entry point into a piece about community didn’t feel immediately obvious. But, as is often the case, a closer look elsewhere told a different story. Keeping away from the news, in other places in my life, I found it everywhere I looked. I ended up being spoiled for choice.

Driving through the small village where I live at the weekend, I saw a community litter pick in full swing. I felt guilty for not taking part and admired the individuals, young and old, who’d come out on a beautiful spring day in their high-vis jackets to scour the hedgerows for discarded rubbish. Until now, I hadn’t realised that this annual quest to leave the country lanes in a better state for both human and animal inhabitants is part of a bigger environmental campaign known as the Great British Spring Clean. Apparently over 400,000 volunteers turn up to clear discarded debris from their local streets, parks and beaches each March.

I saw it at last weekend’s swimming gala when all the younger members of the club noisily supported their team mates as they battled it out in the pool. On a grander scale, I saw it at the Indoor World Athletics Championships on Sunday evening where three of our most inspiring British athletes won gold medals within 28 minutes of each other. The collective delight of good friends and team mates Georgia Hunter Bell, Molly Caudery and the incredible Keely Hodgkinson was a sight to behold as they hugged and jumped for joy.

Whilst interviewing a professor about his work on highly sensitive children recently, I unexpectedly learned that he plays bass guitar for a church band in Hackney, where 400 people congregate each week to share their faith through music.

I even found community at the cinema when I took the kids to see Project Hail Mary, the uplifting film adaptation of the book of the same name. In it, science teacher Ryland Grace (Ryan Gosling) wakes up alone on a spaceship light years from Earth. He looks out into deep space and realises he has zero recollection of who he is or how he got there. As his memory returns, he understands that the fate of humanity rests in his hands and it’s his job to find out why the sun is dying - eek, no pressure! Luckily, he’s not alone for long. A sentient creature from a distant planet arrives on the same mission (Rocky, a puppet shaped like a pile of rocks) and an unlikely friendship blossoms. Despite vast differences in language, biology and experience, the pair learn to communicate, collaborate and ultimately support each other for a crucial common goal.

And then last week, BBC Radio 1 breakfast show host Greg James completed a gruelling 1000km tandem cycling challenge (mainly on his own, with some special guests joining him for brief stints on the second seat). He rode from Weymouth to Edinburgh and his escapade raised a staggering £4 million for the charity, Comic Relief. Throughout the journey, he spoke about the importance of community: the people who joined him for a short cycle, all the listeners who supported from afar and the shared sense of purpose that carried him up the many, many hills.

On social media, he said, “I read a piece ages ago about the idea that people love the idea of living in a village, but can’t be [bothered] with being a villager. I think it’s important to be part of that village. That doesn’t have to be a literal village. But actually doing stuff in your community is a big thing. That’s what I’ll be most proud of when this thing finishes, if people think more about that”.

Motivate

At school, teachers talk to pupils about global citizenship, and this is undoubtedly important. We want to equip young people with the skills, knowledge and values they need to contribute to just, equitable and sustainable societies. But the current world population is approximately 8.3 billion people. And much of the news that children might see or hear about events currently going on in the wider world could be distressing. Our young people are growing up during what some researchers describe as a polycrisis: a period in which multiple global challenges intersect. Climate change, biodiversity loss, economic instability and geopolitical tensions are frequently discussed together as interrelated issues in news media.

For some of our children, the thought of being a citizen of this huge global community, with all of its many challenges, might just feel a little overwhelming. Perhaps the starting point needs to be smaller and more human, something closer to home. Maybe it begins with consciously cultivating core values related to sharing, responsibility, inclusivity and a recognition that every person matters within our own local communities. These are more manageable, everyday actions, which can lay the foundations for wider social considerations later.

The benefits of leaning into and personally investing in our communities is something that has come through strongly in our work at Tooled Up.

In 2024, we interviewed Professor Geoff Thompson MBE. Geoff is a five-time karate world champion and founder of the Youth Charter, a charity that uses sport, art and culture to support young people from disadvantaged communities. Throughout the conversation, Geoff returned again and again to the importance of community in children’s lives. He spoke about how grounding it is for young people to feel part of something bigger than themselves, and about the powerful role of intergenerational connections in reducing social alienation and promoting growth.

Anyone with a primary-aged child is likely to be aware of the ‘grow a pound’ scheme run by many schools. Each child is given a small amount of money and encouraged to grow it through their own initiative. The money raised is then donated to school funds or a chosen charity. A good friend’s young son decided to grow his money by baking delicious chocolatey treats and selling them to neighbours in their local area, none of whom have any connection to his school. He got up early to cook, advertised his wares on the village WhatsApp group (via his mum) and happily scooted around to hand them out. He was thrilled when nearly all of the neighbours bought cakes. Not only did he raise a significant sum, he also experienced feelings of achievement and pride at helping out his school, and developed a sense of connection and belonging with people of all ages within his local community.

This initiative brought to mind an interview we’ve had on the Tooled Up platform for a few years now, with Professor Robin Banerjee, an expert in children’s social and emotional development and founder of the Sussex Centre for Research on Kindness. He spoke about the importance of helping young people to look outwards, of encouraging them to understand that a meaningful part of success lies in the positive impact we have on others. Kindness and compassion, he said, are everyday habits that can and should be nurtured and practised. He is, of course, right. Empathy was one of the top skills needed in the workplace in the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report (2025). To thrive as adults, our children will need to be problem-solvers, empaths and community-builders. The good news is that these skills can be taught, valued and, perhaps most importantly, modelled in everyday family life.

Whilst we know that connections and communities formed online can provide a sense of belonging, there is something uniquely powerful about real-life interactions, perhaps even more so now we are all so heavily influenced by social media and the fragmenting frenzy of constant world news. Small moments of connection with people our children might not normally cross paths with expose them to different perspectives, experiences and ages. They help to build confidence, empathy and a sense of shared responsibility. Crucially, they can also root children in a tangible sense of belonging and provide evidence that they are seen, valued and that they really matter within their community, all of which are vital for mental health, wellbeing and their developing sense of identity.

More broadly, encouraging small-scale social action like this little bake sale can help children to develop a sense of agency within their community and can lay the groundwork for lifelong behaviours. Research has shown that early participation in activities which encourage children to look outwards, rather than in, leaves them twice as likely to continue ‘habits of service’ throughout their lives compared to those who start at the later age of 16-18. If this is something that interests you, it’s worth checking out the #iwill Movement, which has developed some simple principles that help to keep social action meaningful and relevant.

Support

Having seen the impact that our work has on families and young people, we know how important it is, but as our community grows, I’ve been increasingly struck by how many people are willing to give up their time and expertise to contribute.

Over the last few weeks, we’ve been really lucky to have worked alongside some wonderful professionals; a celebrity make-up artist (Grace Hatcher), a special effects make-up artist (Jon Moore) and a paediatric nurse (Lara Parker). Each gave up their evenings to be interviewed about their jobs for a series of videos we are making for teens about interesting careers. A year or so ago, 45 fantastic individuals did something similar, writing articles for us about their vocations, which we turned into an inspiring resource for young people.

None of them needed to do so. They all offered their time and knowledge, receiving nothing tangible in return. Yet, I suspect they gained something from it. There is of course something deeply satisfying about contributing, about feeling useful, about doing something to help and about knowing that your experience might make a difference to or help someone else. Community is something that we actively build together, not just something we draw from.

I guess I’ve come full circle to Greg James and his longest ride. He spoke about making the effort to be part of the village, and that’s a metaphor we often use within Tooled Up too. We hope you know by now that Tooled Up is always here to support you. If you are a Tooled Up parent or work at any of our subscriber schools or businesses and you need help, ideas or simply want someone to share a problem with, you can always contact us and we’ll do our very best to help.