Building Confidence Through Comedy
The Comedy Trust has completed the pilot delivery of Laugh It Off – Primary, an exciting programme using comedy and laughter to help primary school children develop confidence, resilience and positive emotional wellbeing.
Supported by the PH Holt Foundation, the programme saw Comedy Trust practitioners work with pupils through a series of creative workshops combining comedy games, improvisation, storytelling, character development and performance. Sessions took place in partnership with Christ the King Catholic Primary School and Blackmoor Park Junior School.
More Than Just Making Children Laugh
Laugh It Off – Primary is based on a simple idea: comedy can be much more than entertainment.
Throughout the programme, children explored how humour can help them manage emotions, respond to challenges and develop positive coping strategies. Sessions encouraged pupils to try new things, take creative risks and learn that getting something wrong – whether a joke, performance or idea – is all part of the process.
As the weeks progressed, practitioners and teachers saw some of the biggest changes in children who had initially been reluctant to participate.
Quieter pupils began volunteering ideas and putting themselves forward to perform, while children increasingly worked with classmates outside their usual friendship groups.
At Christ the King, one teacher reported seeing levels of confidence from some pupils that they had never previously witnessed in the classroom. Other children were described as having really “come out of their shells.”
From Reluctance to the Stage
By the final sessions, children who had once needed encouragement were eager to perform their sketches in front of others.
One pupil reflected:
“I should have gone for it from the start.”
Another had just one question for the team:
“Are you’s coming back in year 6?”
For us, those comments sum up what Laugh It Off – Primary is all about.
The programme wasn’t simply about teaching children how to be funny. It created a supportive environment in which they could express themselves, collaborate, build friendships and discover the confidence to stand up and have a go.
What Comes Next?
The pilot has given The Comedy Trust valuable evidence that our established comedy-for-social-change approach can be successfully adapted for younger children.
It has also provided learning that will help us develop Laugh It Off – Primary further, working with schools and partners to explore how laughter and creativity can become accessible tools for supporting children’s confidence, resilience and wellbeing.
A huge thank you to the PH Holt Foundation for making the programme possible – and, of course, to the children, teachers and schools who threw themselves into it.
We can’t wait to see where Laugh It Off – Primary goes next.
Click here to read more about our work in schools.