Shout Out
Celebrating the amazing things our corporate partners are doing to help us protect children, prevent abuse and transform society
Welcome to your summer edition of Shout Out, our newsletter for our family of corporate partners.
As ever, we’re so excited to showcase some of the incredible things you and your organisations have been doing to improve childhoods this year.
In this edition you'll read about the fantastic Childhood Day activities that took place in June. We’ll also round up just some of the ways you’ve supported our work for children and families through fundraising and generously donating your time and talents to the NSPCC.
Everything that we do is only made possible thanks to partners like you who give your time, energy and expertise to make sure we can keep all children safe. Thank you!
We're so pleased to welcome more companies to our family of corporate partners this year, including:
- Platform Housing Group
- Semperian
Childhood Day
Childhood Day Launch
This March, 80 celebrities and influencers joined us at Weston House to launch Childhood Day 2025. Hosted by television’s Kate Lawler, the event was an opportunity to work collaboratively on creating engaging and authentic content to promote Childhood Day.
There were plenty of photo opportunities with the Childhood Day disco ball t-shirts, designed exclusively by Abel and the Label, available to buy via the NSPCC Clothing website. Baker Ross kindly kitted out the playroom, which was led by play expert and NSPCC Champion of Childhood, Amber Ogunsanya-William. Matalan's 2025 fundraising Paw Patrol fashion collection for kids was on display, brought to life with an actor dressed as Chase!
The bumper goody bag on the day included Paw Patrol toys, Lindt chocolate teddy bears, Baker Ross crafts, and pens from The Royal Ballet School. Additionally, a bake sale table full of sweet treats, baked and hosted by celebrity bakers including Candice Brown and Dr Josh Smalley, and Juliet Sear, raised over £1,000 on the day.
Thanks to all of you who made this such a great day and start to our Childhood Day fundraising!
Dragon Boat Race
The Dragon Boat Race returned in 2025 once again for another successful year! Teams from Clarion, Vodafone, We Work, Overbury and McArthur Glen came together to celebrate Childhood Day and compete in a series of races, paddling their way to the victory. The winning teams received trophies, medals and bragging rights.
Participants showed their commitment to Childhood Day with teams dressing up for the challenge, with the best fancy dress winning a Slushy machine.
A special thanks to Clarion for providing the photography to capture every incredible moment of the event, and to Lindt, MicroScooters and Lidl GB for providing the raffle prizes on the day, helping us raise over £1,330. So far, the event has raised over £23,000!
Ultimate Sports Day
On Thursday 19 June Childline Sports Day returned for its fourth year running, under the new guise of the Ultimate Sports Day. It was a day full of fun and fierce competition, as teams from across the media industry tackled challenges including the Tug-of-War, Velcro wall and infamous Sweeper Arm, to be crowned our 2025 champions. A massive congratulations to our winners: News UK!
The event was a phenomenal success, raising an incredible £185,000 (net) for Childline, which could help us to answer 46,250 contacts from children and young people who need us. A huge thank you to our Headline Sponsor Active International, Supporting Sponsor Baringa, and media partners Ocean Outdoor and the Financial Times, for making the day possible.
Matalan
To celebrate this year’s Childhood Day, we teamed up with Matalan and Paramount to launch an exclusive range of clothing, featuring popular characters from the number one pre-school brand in the UK: PAW Patrol, produced by Spin Master Entertainment.
Chase and the PAW Patrol appear across the exclusive range of pyjama sets, dresses, t-shirts and sweat sets, which are on sale online and in 104 stores across the country as part of Matalan’s ongoing support for us, which sees 100% of profits from the range going to support our vital work across the UK.
Lidl GB
Lidl GB once again sponsored Childhood Day for a fourth year as our retail sponsor. Lidl GB has been partnered with the NSPCC for 8 years, raising over £10 million in this time.
Lidl GB helped to raise awareness of Childhood Day, as well as holding its own events and activities with colleagues and customers across the country to help raise vital funds. Customers got involved by donating either at cash donation tins or in small amounts via card payments at the till, thanks to digital micro-donation system Pennies.
Colleagues also held a series of fundraisers across the country, from fancy dress to table tennis competitions, and lots in between!
Highvern
Highvern is an award-winning fiduciary, corporate and fund services provider with offices across Jersey, Guernsey, Cayman, Ireland, and the UK.
Over the past few years, Highvern staff have volunteered and engaged with NSPCC Jersey. This year, they have taken their commitment a step further by organising and running Childhood Day themselves, successfully raising £350 in a local supermarket in just a few short hours.
This impressive effort highlights their dedication to supporting the community and making a positive impact in Jersey, demonstrating their commitment to local causes.
Your fantastic fundraising
From Saigon
To Angkor Wat:
Team Clarion cycle 450km for children
Back in August 2024, six of Clarion’s Manchester development team (Leoni Liebert, Richard Bell, William Hunt, Oliver Walker, James Howard, and Oliver Meagher) decided to take on one of the biggest fundraising challenges on offer to raise money for the NSPCC.
Clarion has been partnered with us since June 2024, and across the organisation had a target of raising £100,000, for our Building Connections service, in the first year of our three-year partnership. The six (mostly inexperienced) cyclists chose to raise money for children by cycling 450km from Saigon (Vietnam) to Angkor Wat (Cambodia), with a massive fundraising target to match.
Following a tough winter of training in all elements, and the hard work of fundraising, by February there was no turning back. The journey to the start line began in London with a 12-hour flight to Saigon. With no time to rest, the team headed straight to get measured up for their bikes. The next morning at 6am sharp, they were off.
The journey ahead was daunting and the first day a shock to the system. The heat was relentless, and within the first hour, team Clarion had to tackle one of the biggest bridges of the entire ride: a huge industrial structure spanning the Mekong River.
Each day started early with a noodles and rice breakfast at dawn, followed by cycling from 7.30am until around 5pm, with breaks every 15-20km to refuel. The terrain was varied with busy roads, chaotic intersections, long rural stretches, countless bridges and breath-taking views. The temperature soared into the mid-30s, feeling closer to 42°C with the humidity.
Mindset was everything for the team, and they kept themselves going by remembering why they were doing this. Reminding themselves that they were doing this for children and young people, to support those experiencing loneliness, got them over the finish line.
Having passed through two amazing countries with extremely welcoming locals, reaching the finish line was surreal - not the grand, climactic moment they imagined, but more a quiet sense of accomplishment. Clarion’s team of novice cyclists raised an astonishing £30,000 in total, including generous fund matching from the company – thank you for making a difference to children’s lives.
“Once our aching legs faded, reflecting on what we achieved – raising more than £30,000 – was overwhelming. Knowing that this money would go directly to helping children made every tough moment worthwhile.”
Now as we start the second year of partnership, Clarion have upped their target to £125,000 to celebrate their 125th year anniversary and we’re so excited for what’s to come in the year ahead!
Platform Housing Group cycle over 200 miles
Our new partner, Platform Housing Group, in the West Midlands, completed a Charity Bike Ride which was an incredible success with colleagues, partners, and supporters coming together to raise funds for children and young people.
Across two days in June riders covered a total of 213.6 miles, climbing an impressive 13,143 feet, all while battling temperatures soaring above 30°C. The event showcased fantastic teamwork, with participants from all ability levels – seasoned cyclists to first timers – pushing their limits.
It’s an achievement Platform Housing Group are rightly incredibly proud of, and every mile ridden helps support our work to protect and prevent abuse for children.
A massive thank you goes to everyone who participated, volunteered, and sponsored the ride. The amount raised so far is already at £9,200 and still increasing before additional corporate sponsorship.
Lidl celebrate Pride
Lidl colleagues and NSPCC staff and volunteers are coming together to march alongside one another in support of Pride, nationwide.
Throughout Pride month, Childline reminded children and young people of all ages that it is here to help, whatever their worry.
To help us do this, this year, the NSPCC and Lidl GB are marching together at four major Prides, including London. Lidl GB is also generously sponsoring us to have a presence at Pride for the third year in row, meaning we'll attend as many as 21 events up and down the country in support of LGBTQ+ young people.
Your valuable volunteering
Jet2 apprentices get creative to help Childline
This February, for National Apprenticeship Week 2025, Jet2 gave their apprentices a day filled with learning, insights, volunteering, and professional development.
Jet2 apprentices were welcomed to the NSPCC Leeds Hub for a series of workshops and presentations, providing an in-depth understanding of the NSPCC's work in the North-East, Yorkshire, and The Humber, including services like Childline.
Apprentices and NSPCC staff then took part in an extended Bright Sparks Lunch Club at Jet2's Head Office. The apprentices were tasked with developing creative ideas and solutions to help the NSPCC attract and recruit volunteers for Childline shifts. After extensive brainstorming and refining their ideas, the apprentices pitched their proposals to a panel of judges, including Jet2's Director of HR, Miriam D’Souli, who provided personalised professional development feedback.
It was a great day for everyone involved, with a special highlight being a visit from Jet2 Ambassador, Rylan Clark, who stopped by to wish the apprentices good luck in their NSPCC volunteering challenge!
BBC Common Good recognises OC&C’s incredible pro bono work
We’re proud and excited to share that OC&C has been featured in the BBC Common Good series. We’re honoured that they have chosen to highlight the incredible pro bono work OC&C do for us in their episode. Filming took place in the head offices of the NSPCC and OC&C, as well as Coast and Vale school, where Talk Relationships forms part of the school curriculum.
The film highlights our longstanding partnership with OC&C, a global consulting firm with over 35 years of experience in unpicking the most complex business challenges for their clients. In 2020 they supported us in developing a dedicated strategy to expand our safeguarding education into secondary schools. They helped us define the scope, structure, and delivery model for what is now a national programme, Talk Relationships. The result has been a programme that supports teachers and students across the country with inclusive, practical education on healthy relationships and harmful sexual behaviour.
OC&C also completed a second project with us in 2022 to help us strengthen the programme’s offer. From this, we developed and launched phase two – the Whole School Approach – of the programme in April 2024.
Your creative campaigns
We’ve joined forces with the LEGO® Group to empower parents across the UK with playful activities that make it easier to talk to their children about online safety and wellbeing.
Together, we’re running a series of engaging workshops for parents, using the LEGO® Group’s LEGO® Build & Talk activities. These sessions will blend the power of play with essential online gaming safety education, helping turn what can sometimes be tricky conversations into enjoyable, hands-on experiences. By using LEGO® bricks to build simple stories and scenarios, parents can guide their children through important online safety topics in a way that feels natural and fun.
And that’s not all. Throughout the summer, the LEGO Group and NSPCC will also be hosting pop-up family events in locations across the UK. These vibrant sessions will offer games, playful activities, and expert tips to support families with online safety and wellbeing.
This partnership is about more than just safety - it’s about helping families connect, communicate, and grow together.
To mark Safer Internet Day, Vodafone partnered with us to open a pop-up 'Phish 'N Tips' shop in Central London, offering families free expert advice on staying safe online, particularly in spotting and dealing with online scams. Vodafone transformed a corner fish and chip shop into a shoal of advice and expertise.
Members of the public had the opportunity to speak with specialists from Childline and psychotherapist Catherine Knibbs, while also enjoying free fish and chips.
The pop-up event also coincided with the release of Digi-tales, a book showcasing the winners of the creative writing competition for children and young people held in autumn 2024. The ingenious fables, written by children to promote staying safe and happy online, were beautifully illustrated and brought to life in this limited edition book. Head over to Vodafone Digital Parenting for tools and resources, created in conjunction with NSPCC, and to download the free eBook version of Digi-tales.
Some young people feel their problem isn't 'big enough' for Childline. And with a lack of early mental health support available elsewhere, it leaves some with nowhere to turn but online. However, since 84% of mental health advice on TikTok misleading, it can be hard for young people to navigate all of the damaging content online.
From 3 March to 20 April Childline ran the Unbox Your Brain campaign, funded entirely by Lidl GB, to counter the misleading mental health advice. By delivering everyday mental health advice and support and meeting young people where they are – on social media – we're helping young people find what works for them.
Unbox Your Brain features three influencers - lifestyle star and singer Rosie McClelland, magician Dan Rhodes, and fitness and travel creator Jordon Wilson – who young people know and look up to. They were given head-shaped sculptures and challenged to fill these with household items that represent what goes on in their minds.
The videos generated over 13 million impressions on social media, and the influencers own social media content was viewed over 250,000 times!
We’ve been working together with CALPOL® for seven years to raise awareness and money for our NSPCC Helpline. CALPOL®’s Don’t Bottle it Up campaign encourages adults to unbottle their worries for child safety and wellbeing by contacting the NSPCC Helpline if they have any concerns about a child.
On 2 April 2025, this year's Don’t Bottle it Up campaign launched, with new imagery, featuring a parent and child, and a brand new educational ‘Don’t Bottle it Up’ hub on CALPOL®’s website.
As well as raising awareness of the NSPCC Helpline, each pack purchased in participating retailers during spring and early summer 2025 will also mean a donation to support the Helpline.
The paid for advertising campaign is running across YouTube, Meta, Babycentre, Emma's Diary, and Health Care Professional Media, and we’re so grateful to CALPOL® for enabling the Helpline to respond to over 200,000 people, making sure that expert help is there when it’s needed the most.
Supporting babies and infants
Early childhood is such a crucial period. The first five years of a child’s life are the foundation of a happy and healthy childhood. Here's how our services and resources are supporting children to get the best possible start in life, from the early stages of pregnancy right through to the age of five:
12 weeks pregnant to 4 weeks old
Pregnancy in Mind
Pregnancy in Mind is our preventative mental health service for expectant parents. One in five mums and one in ten dads are thought to experience mental health issues during pregnancy or the year following the birth of their child. Left untreated, this can disrupt the relationship between new parents and their baby. Our practitioners use a range of approaches including mindfulness, active relaxation and peer support, to help parents give their babies the start in life they deserve.
12 weeks pregnant to 3 months old
Baby Steps
Our education programme, Baby Steps, focuses on building positive relationships between parents and their babies. This service is aimed at parents-to-be who might benefit from extra support during their pregnancy and journey as a new parent, including those who may have experienced trauma in their lives or are facing financial challenges.
Birth to 2 years old
Look, Say, Sing, Play
Look, Say, Sing, Play is our set of baby brain development tools that encourage bonding between parents and their babies – with tips that can be easily incorporated into everyday routines. Parents and carers are communicating with their babies all the time, but don’t always realise these interactions can help shape the way their baby’s brain develops.
A guide for expectant parents (Our first 1001 days together)
Our new guide is designed to support positive parenting choices during pregnancy and the first two years. It uses trusted information to provide key parenting messages and tips to make parenting easier.
The guide will be licensed to local councils so they can distribute it to parents in their area.
Birth to 5 years old
Infant Parent Support
Infant Parent Support (IPS) programme helps improve relationships between parents and children under the age of five – supporting families to provide the best overall environment for children to grow up in. IPS is part of a randomised control trial led by the University of Glasgow, which will gather evidence on the difference the service is making to children and families.
Early childhood is such a crucial period. The first five years of a child’s life are the foundation of a happy and healthy childhood. Here's how our services and resources are supporting children to get the best possible start in life, from the early stages of pregnancy right through to the age of five:
12 weeks pregnant to 4 weeks old
Pregnancy in Mind
Pregnancy in Mind is our preventative mental health service for expectant parents. 1 in 5 mums and 1 in 10 dads are thought to experience mental health issues during pregnancy or the year following the birth of their child. Left untreated, this can disrupt the relationship between new parents and their baby. Our practitioners use a range of approaches including mindfulness, active relaxation and peer support, to help parents give their babies the start in life they deserve.
12 weeks pregnant to 3 months old
Baby Steps
Our education programme, Baby Steps, focuses on building positive relationships between parents and their babies. This service is aimed at parents-to-be who might benefit from extra support during their pregnancy and journey as a new parent, including those who may have experienced trauma in their lives or are facing financial challenges.
Birth to 2 years old
Look, Say, Sing, Play
Look, Say, Sing, Play is our set of baby brain development tools that encourage bonding between parents and their babies – with tips that can be easily incorporated into everyday routines. Parents and carers are communicating with their babies all the time, but don’t always realise these interactions can help shape the way their baby’s brain develops.
A guide for expectant parents (Our first 1001 days together)
Our new guide is designed to support positive parenting choices during pregnancy and the first two years. It uses trusted information to provide key parenting messages and tips to make parenting easier.
The guide will be licensed to local councils so they can distribute it to parents in their area.
Birth to 5 years old
Infant Parent Support
Infant Parent Support (IPS) programme helps improve relationships between parents and children under the age of five – supporting families to provide the best overall environment for children to grow up in. IPS is part of a randomised control trial led by the University of Glasgow, which will gather evidence on the difference the service is making to children and families.
Baby Steps is our free, friendly group that empowers parents-to-be, builds their confidence and helps them feel ready for the arrival of their new baby – so they can provide the best possible care.
It’s been designed for parents who, for a variety of reasons, are least likely to take part in antenatal education.
From building stronger relationships to learning important parenting skills, Baby Steps looks at all the joys and challenges of becoming a parent.
Sessions are tailored to meet the needs of parents, but the programme usually covers:
Their baby's development
What could change for new parents and the people around them
Giving birth and getting to know their baby
How new parents can look after themselves and their baby
People and places that can offer support
This year we launched an updated version of Baby Steps, which will run as a 12-month pilot. Changes include:
- Virtual sessions – we now offer online as well as face-to-face sessions. It means we can reach families in a way that works for them – no matter where they live in the UK.
- Cost effective – we’ve redeveloped our original model, so our skilled practitioners can deliver the sessions without a midwife, making it more affordable to run.
Through our new Baby Steps programme, we want to reach even more expectant parents, including specific groups like dads, young parents and LGBTQ+ parents. We also want to make it easy for parents to refer themselves and sign up, which is why we're promoting Baby Steps directly to parents.
“It’s been an amazing experience and I’m thankful I had the opportunity to be a part of the group. It was great for me but even greater for my baby.”
“I’ve learned a lot from it, in terms of how to look after the baby and what to do. Obviously as a first-time mother you don’t know anything. Without this course, without the information, I would have struggled.”
Join us for our CSR Breakfast
On Thursday 9 October, we’re hosting our CSR Breakfast themed on corporate partnerships that are tackling societal issues. Hosted by our fantastic trustee, Kathleen Saxton, the event will be in Central London between 9:30 and 11:30am.
We’d love to see you there. If you're interested in attending, please email csr@nspcc.org.uk
Thank you for all that you do for children
Credits: NSPCC photography by Patch Dolan, except Childhood Day Launch (Jonathan Hordle), Fantastic Fundraising (Briony Campbell), Valuable Volunteering, Creative Campaigns and 12 weeks pregnant to 4 weeks old (Tom Hull). All children and adults in NSPCC photography are models or volunteers. Other images courtesy of our corporate partners.
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