The Good Childhood Report

Download the full report at the top, or download the summary reports here: 

• The Good Childhood Report 2025
• The Good Childhood Report 2025 Summary
• The Good Childhood Report 2025 Youth Summary
• The Good Childhood Report policy briefing 2025: Reclaiming Hope in a Changing World

What did our household survey 2025 show? 

• In 2025, children and young people were, on average, most happy with their family.
• School was the area of life that children and young people were most commonly unhappy with: one in nine (11.1%) children and young people were identified as unhappy with this aspect of life.
• Rising prices remained the societal issue that children and young people most commonly worried about, with 40% ‘very’ or ‘quite’ worried about this. This was closely followed by crime, something that 38% were worried about. 

There is a standard being pushed of what everyone should look like and that plays a big role with satisfaction if you don’t feel like you meet that.

They told us that social media plays a dual role. While it contributes to those pressures, it also offers connection and a sense of chosen community.  

 Young people shared difficulties about belonging, at school as well as in their wider community. They mentioned pressure to fit in, and young people being unkind to each other to increase their own sense of belonging. 

Unkind relationships between many students, students feel peer pressure to fit in which leads to large friendship groups who make fun of others.

Young people also reflected that they could feel isolated from their wider community. They said that they did not always have the opportunities and spaces to socialise safely in their communities. They also highlighted that negative messaging about young people, in particular teenagers, impacts their experiences in their community as well as how they feel about themselves. 

The Children’s Society’s household survey 2025 highlights that school is the area of life where children and young people most commonly feel unhappy. Looking at the Understanding Society survey, over 1 in 7 felt  unhappy with both schoolwork and school in 2022/23. For the first time, getting good grades at school or college was the top worry for children and young people’s future, with over 2 in 5 children and young people worried about this in 2025.  

In consultations, young people told us that school can be a major source of stress, with the pressure to achieve academically having an impact on their wellbeing. Many felt that academic achievement is prioritised above other forms of success, leaving some feeling like they don’t belong in the school environment.  

If you’re not seen as achieving... you’re not belonging.

This pressure was felt from both within the school system and from external sources, and professionals told us that this was particularly the case during exam periods. 

Young people emphasised the difference that supportive school staff can make, especially when those staff members are trusted, consistent, and show that they care. 

“Now I’ve got a great staff member, and they have made all the difference and made it possible for me to engage in education. Basically, it shows how much the relationship with the staff member is so key. I believe she genuinely cares.” 

Despite the fact young people don’t have much power, they still want to change things in society.

But not everyone felt hopeful. Some young people questioned whether speaking up makes any real difference, and whether there was any point in discussing how to improve children and young people’s wellbeing when they felt that they could not really change things.  

As introduced in our policy briefing, Reclaiming Hope in a Changing World, young people shared that more could be done to gather and act on young people’s views. They also called for tokenistic approaches to be avoided, so that surveys do not feel like a ‘tick-box’ exercise and are meaningful for young people. When young people are asked to share their thoughts, it must lead to real change. 

When we consulted with professionals who work with children and young people, one phrase we heard many times was:  

“It takes a village to raise a child.”  

This phrase was important because it sums up the underlying theme we heard from professionals: they felt a loss of a sense of community, and with it a loss of collective responsibility for children and young people’s wellbeing. They explained that this contributed to young people experiencing low wellbeing in the first place, and also made it more difficult to address the things that could lead to low wellbeing for children and young people. 

Throughout the consultations, young people and professionals both frequently discussed the importance of support being available for children and young people when they need it:  

• Young people wanted better support in place, including in their school environment, with staff that they felt comfortable with and that they could trust.
• Professionals spoke about systemic issues, like the lack of universal services, long waiting lists for available support, and the lack of flexibility within systems to accommodate to children’s individual needs.  

The Time to Act is Now 

Children’s wellbeing is still in decline, and too many feel alone while worries keep piling up.  

This year’s report places young people at the heart of the conversation, because children and young people deserve better. It exposes the pressures they face, from toxic beauty standards and academic pressure to a lack of safe spaces and amplifies their calls for change: more trusted adults, inclusive communities, and real opportunities to shape their world. 

The message is clear - we must act now to ensure every child feels valued, supported, and hopeful.  

Young people must be at the heart of every solution. If they’re not involved in shaping it, it’s not working. That’s why we are calling on the government to take bold, immediate action to turn the tide on children’s wellbeing. 

Recommendations at a glance: 

• Programmes tackling gender stereotypes
• Online accountability and digital literacy
• Shared understandings and training on bullying for all relevant professionals and organisations
• Increased focus on personal, social, health and economic education (PSHE) and life skills in the curriculum
• Whole-school approaches to wellbeing
• Support for primary to secondary school transition
• End punitive behavioural policies in schools
• Restoring and expanding youth services
• A trusted adult guarantee, providing chosen trusted adults
• A focus on holistic wellbeing in early support hubs rollout
• Ambitious implementation and monitoring of the Child Poverty Strategy
• Increase intergenerational opportunities and understandings of teenagers’ lives
• Improved moderation and responsibility across media and society
• Introduce a national wellbeing measurement programme
• Increase opportunities for young people to directly influence their society  

It’s time for action. Children’s wellbeing can’t wait. 

Focus on holistic wellbeing in early support hubs rollout 

We protect and listen to young people in their most crucial stages of development. Our emotional health drop-in centres across the country are there for young people when they need to talk about their problems.