SECONDARY NEWS
One month countdown underway for Samsung’s school tech competition
With less than a month to go before entries close, Samsung’s Solve for Tomorrow is inviting schools across the UK to take part in its flagship tech- for-good competition for students aged 11-18. This free, curriculum-linked programme is mapped to Gatsby Benchmarks 4, 5, and 6, helping teachers embed careers education without adding to workload. Students gain hands-on experience in problem solving, creativity, and digital skills – all while engaging with industry mentors and employer-led insights.
The challenge asks students to design tech-for-good solutions across three themes: Smarter Sport, Greener Future, and Safer Online. Finalists will pitch their ideas to industry experts and Samsung employees, with winners receiving tech prizes, mentoring, and work experience. Winning ideas will even be showcased on Samsung’s national platforms – including the iconic Piccadilly Circus screen.
Recent Samsung research highlights why this matters: Brits stop actively learning at an average age of 51, and one in ten Gen X adults say they haven’t learnt anything new in the past year. In contrast, 58% of Gen Z report learning something new every week. Despite this gap, over a million Gen X’ers wish they could go back to school – with nearly half wanting to learn about emerging technologies like AI and a third saying they have an idea they’d love to bring to life. This underscores the urgency of equipping today’s youth with future-ready skills and fostering inter- generational learning.
To mark the launch, Samsung teamed up with actor and presenter Larry Lamb, sending him back to school to explore how creativity and innovation can unlock new ways of thinking across generations. In a short film, Larry’s perceptions of school life are turned upside down as he discovers how students are using technology – including AI – to make a
positive societal impact. Watch the film here.
Since its launch in 2020, Solve for Tomorrow has reached over 265,000 young people. Past projects include Athena, a haptic collar that helps deaf users feel music, and HeartAware, a mobile tool to detect heart risks in underserved communities – proof that young minds can drive meaningful change.
The entry deadline is 1 February 2026. Teachers can register now and access free resources for PSHE, DT, STEM, or enrichment sessions. The first 500 teachers to sign up will receive a FREE Imagination Toolbox delivered to their school.
Find out more and register at
SolveforTomorrowUK.com
Half of UK secondary pupils skipping school due to anxiety
A new study of 2,000 UK secondary pupils finds half have stayed away from school because of anxiety in the past year, missing an average of 22 days. The independent study, commissioned by DfE-accredited online school Minerva Virtual Academy (MVA), surveyed pupils aged 11-18, exploring the emotional, social and physical factors that make going through the school gates difficult.
Exams and grades ranked as students’ biggest cause of anxiety (28%), followed by speaking in front of classmates (21%) and the fear of falling behind (18%).
Concerns about appearance (18%), fitting in socially (18%), and sitting for long periods of time (17%) ranked alongside workload pressures, challenging assumptions that school anxiety is driven solely by exams rather than by day- to-day school culture.
Only 15% of pupils in the UK said nothing worries them about going to school.
MVA founder, Hugh Viney, says: “Britain’s one-size-fits-all school model isn’t working for millions of children. We keep talking about a ‘mental health crisis,’ but perhaps what we’re really seeing is a school environment crisis – one that’s fixable if we’re willing to rethink what education looks like.” The study identified clear “crisis years” for anxiety-related absence. Year 13 (aged 18) pupils were six times more likely than Year 7 (aged 11) to avoid school due to stress.
Eighteen-year-olds recorded an average of 49 anxiety-related episodes across the school year, compared to eight of eleven-year-olds. Seventeen, sixteen and thirteen-year olds also reported the highest levels of staying away from school because of how worried they felt - evidence, researchers say, of mounting emotional strain as pupils move through secondary education.
The gap also widens for students from low income families. Pupils eligible for free school meals reported an average of 33 episodes of missing school due to anxiety over the past year, compared with 22 among all pupils.
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www.education-today.co.uk
A significant divide in how well pupils feel understood by the adults in their lives was also uncovered.
While the majority say their parents grasp the reasons behind their school- related anxiety - with 28% saying they “always” feel understood and 26% saying this happens “often” - the picture is different inside school. Only 6% of pupils felt their teachers “always” understand their worries, and just 11% said this happens often. Most reported that teachers understand only “sometimes” (35%), while more than a third (35%) said they rarely or never feel understood.
“Teachers aren’t to blame. They want to be there to nurture every child but the system is too overloaded and that’s where blind spots appear,” says Hugh Viney.
The research highlights that Britain’s secondary school system – large classes, crowded corridors and relentless scrutiny – may be structurally generating anxiety.
MVA is calling on the Department for Education to treat school anxiety as an environmental and systemic issue, not solely a clinical one. “You can’t therapise away outdated design,” says Viney. “Schools need to audit their physical and social environments, not just attendance registers. We can’t keep telling children to be resilient in systems that aren’t designed for their wellbeing.”
Minerva Virtual Academy has built its model around what it calls “The Four Pillars”, a framework designed to balance academic rigour with emotional safety, personal connection and self-paced learning. The pillars – Virtual Learning Platform, Live Lessons, Mentoring and Community – create a school experience that prioritises wellbeing as much as academic achievement. By removing the social pressures of the classroom and replacing them with structured online learning and one-to-one mentoring, MVA says it has seen attendance rise to 94% and suspensions fall to almost zero.
January 2026
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