Helping Boys Thrive: The Working with Boys Programme

Across Surrey’s schools, many teachers recognise a familiar challenge: some boys between Years 5 and 13 struggle to thrive. They may show low motivation, find it difficult to express their emotions, or underperform both academically and socially. In the most serious cases, these difficulties can manifest in negative attitudes towards girls or even harmful sexual behaviour.

The Working with Boys programme, developed by former headteacher and author Andrew Hampton, offers a positive, structured response to this issue. Based on the groundbreaking 2023 book Working with Boys, the programme is now available for schools across the county through both online and face-to-face training. Its goal is simple but far-reaching—to help boys build healthy, respectful relationships and become the best version of themselves.

At the heart of Working with Boys is an understanding of “relational culture”: the unwritten social rules that shape how boys interact with one another. When these cultures take on a negative tone—marked by mockery, aggression, or emotional suppression—they can leave boys unhappy, isolated, and disconnected from their learning. Over time, these patterns can solidify into damaging forms of masculinity.

Hampton’s programme helps schools intervene before that happens. By engaging boys at the stage when their peer group dynamics are forming, teachers can play a transformative role in guiding those cultures towards mutual respect and emotional intelligence.

The Working with Boys programme places guided reflection at its centre. Across thirteen lesson topics, pupils are invited to explore realistic dilemmas, take part in role plays, and discuss everyday scenarios that influence the way they behave and connect with others. These sessions don’t lecture boys or label them—they encourage them to think critically and collaboratively about what kind of men they want to become and how to support their peers in doing the same.

Schools using the programme have found it works best as boys begin secondary school in Year 7—when friendships and group identities are still forming. However, it can also be introduced earlier, in Years 5 and 6, to build foundations of empathy and self-awareness, or used later in Key Stages 4 and 5 to reinforce and sustain positive behaviours.

The Working with Boys training is available to schools nationwide, but the team is particularly inviting Surrey schools to take part this academic year. Training can be delivered online or in-person, giving schools flexibility in how they adopt the programme.

“One of my most immediate and powerful takeaways from this course is the question: why haven’t we, as a society, acted sooner? The content and ethos of this programme are precisely what every school whether mixed or single sex should be embedding into their curriculum. It offers a vital framework for educating pupils, and equally their parents, on how boys should behave, respond, and treat others not just females, but everyone. More than promoting better choices, it fosters the understanding and development of correct, respectful, and empathetic behaviours.”

Secondary teacher

To learn more about how Working with Boys can help your pupils grow into kind, dignified and confident young men, visit workingwithboys.com.