Why are we running the campaign?
Going to school every day helps children do their best. It helps them learn, make friends, build confidence and get the support they need to thrive.
In Staffordshire, school attendance had fallen by 2.3%. Many absences were linked to anxiety and emotional wellbeing challenges. To help address this, we launched Little Heroes, a county-wide campaign that supports children to feel happy, confident and ready to learn every day.
What is Little Heroes?
Little Heroes is Staffordshire County Council’s award-winning attendance and wellbeing campaign for primary schools.
The campaign combines positive encouragement with practical emotional support through two key themes.
Little Heroes
This is the fun and motivational part of the campaign. It encourages children to be:
- Here
- Every day
- Ready
- On time
Schools receive a range of creative resources, and children can earn stickers and certificates to celebrate their attendance achievements.
Helpful Heroes
Helpful Heroes supports children who may feel worried or anxious about coming to school.
Using workbooks, activities and the popular Helpful Bear character, children can:
- understand their feelings
- build confidence
- develop coping strategies
- manage worries more effectively
The aim is to help children feel positive about school and succeed in their learning.
The impact so far
Since launching in 2024, Little Heroes has helped increase attendance by 2.46% in participating schools. This means Staffordshire children have benefited from more than 1,300 additional days of learning.
Schools have also reported improvements in:
- punctuality
- wellbeing
- children's confidence in talking about their feelings
How you can get involved
You can support the campaign by:
- following and sharing Little Heroes content on social media
- reading and enjoying Helpful Bear stories and resources
- helping spread the message that every day at school matters
- encouraging children to be Here, Every day, Ready and On time.