The MELVA
Book
Combine RSE/PSHE with literacy, comprehension and oracy through this new illustrated MELVA novel exploring themes of friendship, grief, puberty and emotional wellbeing with humour and sensitivity.
Launching in September 2025…
… more information coming soon!

This new MELVA story…
…focuses on Melva Mapletree’s personal experiences, as she approaches her twelfth birthday and faces some new life changes and challenges.
The book and accompanying activities support older children through key life transitions, exploring themes of friendship, grief, puberty and emotional wellbeing with humour and sensitivity.
This programme also touches on the mental health topics of self-harming behaviours and suicidal ideation, and comes with practical support for teachers to sensitively and confidently address these subjects.
More information coming soon…

Key learning objectives
Pupils will learn about…
- How to successfully navigate changes in friendships and key relationships
- Ways to understand and work through big emotions such as grief, loss, fear and uncertainty
- How their feelings about themselves (including self-image and identity) can affect their confidence, relationships, and sense of belonging

The Melva Digital Package
Find out more about the full Melva package and its benefits
MELVA has been developed in ongoing consultation with children, teachers, professional counsellors and families since 2017, and is available for you to use in your own setting now.


What does your school get access to?
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4 different MELVA themed creative interventions
The full MELVA package consists of three different creative interventions:
- Explore Scratchicle Town (recommended for Years 3+)
- Melva’s Mountain Adventure (recommended for Years 4+)
- The Quest for Barnabas Boggle (recommended for Years 5+)
- NEW: The Melva Book! (recommended for Years 6+)
Each intervention centres around a different Melva story, and each story is told in a different way: through a series of animation; a filmed theatre show; and a choose-your-own-adventure style game.
Each intervention is designed to be delivered over the course of between 8-12 x one hour lessons, but you can go at your own pace depending on the needs of the young people you are working with. They come with fully prepared lesson plans and practical wraparound activities for in-depth learning, including: creative activities, mindfulness activities, positive psychology exercises, discussion topics and prompts, and practical self-management techniques to learn individually and in groups.
Click the links above to find out more about each individual MELVA intervention.
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A bank of wellbeing activities & themed assemblies
As well as the structured interventions, we also provide examples of other simple activities you can use with your class or wider school anytime you like, such as simple mindfulness and breathing activities. These extra resources are designed to help make good mental wellbeing practices part of your daily school routine.
New for academic year 24/25 will also be a bank of themed assemblies, to support your whole school approach.
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The MELVA digital portal & Teacher Area
Your school will receive a unique login for the full MELVA online portal, where the 3 creative interventions are hosted.
This portal also includes a Teacher Area which holds all the necessary resources and guides you need to get started and deliver with your class, all in one easy to access place: lesson plans, evaluation guides, user guides and more.
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A simple evaluation report at the end of the year
We have built evaluation into the MELVA package, including pre- and post- intervention assessments, and session-by-session feedback.
This means that, subject to proper and full completion and submission of the evaluation data, we can provide you with a simple report at the end of the year to demonstrate impact, including:
- Improvements in knowledge, understanding and recall
- Levels of key wellbeing indicators whilst participating in the MELVA programme*
*We measure this using the PERMA™ framework – a model developed by Dr Martin Seligman and the studies in Positive Psychology to represent the presence of wellbeing
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Teacher CPD & support for school staff
With statutory services in such high demand, it is falling to schools to support children with their mental health, in place of trained mental health practitioners. We know this can come with its own anxieties and challenges, especially when considered alongside the epidemic of stress and burnout that teachers and school staff are already facing.
With this in mind, we have deliberately factored staff support into the programme. Throughout the year, school staff will be able to access:
- Introductory sessions to support the implementation of MELVA in your school.
- Digital and in person Teacher CPD Sessions on wellbeing focused topics, such as Emotional Resilience and Managing Difficult Conversations.
- Bookable 1:1 surgery slots with the MELVA team.
- Facilitated conversation with other schools using MELVA to discuss your experiences and common issues arising around mental health and wellbeing in schools.
Get the Melva Package
Full online package
Full access to all Melva programmes and their accompanying resources.
£1000 (funded licences available)
Are you eligible for a discount or free licence?
Get in touch for bespoke discounts for your setting.
Access lasts for one academic year and will be renewed automatically at the start of the following year unless cancelled.
Funded and supported by:
