Secondary schools face a particular kind of pressure when it comes to anything that sits outside traditional subject teaching. The timetable is full. Every slot is accounted for. And yet the questions young people are actually living with (e.g. about identity, belonging, fairness, the digital world they're growing up in, and what their place is in a wider, interconnected world) don't always fit inside a single subject boundary. A growing number of secondary schools have found that Lyfta's global, human-story-led approach offers something useful in that space. Four of them, in Rochdale, Oldham, London and Slough, show just how varied the routes in can be, and what happens when young people are given consistent space and time to encounter lives very different from their own.

Back in 2022, Upton Court Grammar School (UCGS) in Slough, Berkshire, shared how they were starting to use Lyfta to help students ‘thrive on an intrapersonal, interpersonal, societal and global level.’ Three years later, during our November 2025 visit, it was clear that Lyfta has moved from a fairly new initiative to a routine and embedded part of school life, with weekly use in the pastoral curriculum and an expanding role across digital literacy, unity and belonging, and sensitive whole-school conversations. Below is an update grounded in observation and staff and student feedback from the visit.

What does it feel like to search for meaning in a digital world full of influences, identity trends and global connection?

With growing concerns around AI, misinformation, and media literacy, how can we support young people to navigate the increasingly complex digital world? Here are 9 ways critical digital and media literacy can transform learning, and how Lyfta's Critical Digital & Media Literacy course reimagines digital literacy for today’s classrooms.

As parents, educators and civic leaders, it has never been more important for us to support our young generations to navigate the complexities and challenges of our time. In this article, we reflect on the crucial role education plays in shaping our young people’s futures and the shared urgency to nurture curious, compassionate and critical thinkers.

As technology continues to evolve at an unprecedented pace, artificial intelligence (AI) has emerged as a transformative force across various sectors, including education. AI's potential to revolutionise teaching and learning is immense, offering both significant benefits, but also notable challenges for educators and students alike.

The digital world offers tremendous opportunities for young people, but teaching students to think about digital media is key. In this blog we look at digital literacy in education and highlight the immersive and impactful Lyfta teaching resources you need to introduce critical thinking in the classroom.

Paulina Tervo - Chief Content Officer at Lyfta, talks about the responsibility storytellers and media outlets have for the way in which they tell stories, how those stories shape our world, our perspectives and attitudes and two very different experiences she had telling stories as a filmmaker.

In the parts of the world where digital devices (laptops, mobile phones, tablets, etc.) are readily available, it's not unusual that young people spend eight hours or even more interacting with a screen. According to research, the amount of screen time is increasing still.