Dementia Life Awareness Campaign
Young Minds - Big Impact
One in three people born today will develop dementia in their lifetime. That means every child sitting in a classroom right now will almost certainly be affected by it — whether it’s a grandparent, a parent, or eventually themselves.
And yet most children have no understanding of what dementia is. When a grandparent starts behaving differently, when a family member doesn’t recognise them anymore, when the adults around them are stressed and upset — children are left to make sense of it on their own. That’s not good enough.
We’re developing age-appropriate dementia awareness assemblies for primary and secondary schools across the UK. The aim is simple: give young people the understanding and the language to make sense of something that will almost certainly touch their lives.
What We Offer
For younger children, our assemblies, workshops or classroom sessions focus on empathy, kindness, and understanding that people’s brains can change as they get older.
We use storytelling and simple, honest language to help children understand why a grandparent might forget things, repeat themselves, or seem different to how they used to be — and what they can do to still connect with them. No jargon. No fear.
Just the kind of understanding that helps a child feel less confused and more compassionate. And the kind of understanding that our founder, Jack, wish he had at primary school.
For older students, the conversation goes deeper.
We talk about what dementia actually is, how it affects families, and why it matters as a social and public health issue. We address the stigma head-on — the awkwardness, the avoidance, the way society tends to look away from things it finds uncomfortable. And we give students the tools to be part of changing that.
These aren’t just assemblies about a medical condition. They’re about building a generation that understands dementia before it lands in their family uninvited — because for most of them, it will.

Young Minds
Why Schools Matter
If we want to change how society understands and responds to dementia, we have to start earlier. The adults who will be caring for parents and grandparents in twenty to thirty years’ time are in school right now. The more they understand before that moment arrives, the better equipped they’ll be — and the less alone they’ll feel.
There are also children in classrooms right now who are already living with dementia in their families. They deserve to know they’re not the only ones, and that what they’re feeling is completely normal.
Interested in Our Young Minds Programme?



