A bunch of kids (maybe five or six?) in a classroom. All aged around 11. Boys and girls – visually diverse mix.
We open on LEAD GIRL – sat on teacher’s desk, legs dangling – looking right at camera.

LEAD GIRL: It’s about when you move from primary school to secondary school, and suddenly everything’s different

The camera switches to another kid, sat in class at a desk, who says the next line. Throughout the lines that follow we’ll jump from kid to kid, revealing others dotted through classroom – some leaning on wall, perched on filing cabinet etc. All talk direct to camera. Some will illustrate their point through a prop on the desk or drawing on paper / flipchart / classroom whiteboard. Sometimes more than one kid shares a line – or even the whole group in a wide shot.

– And the friends you had, you’ve left behind, and now there’s all these new people to get to grips with

It’s about when things are tough at home. Your parents aren’t well, or aren’t happy

Or aren’t together, or aren’t holding it together

It’s about when you feel bullied,

or isolated

or different

or when the guy next to you seems to have so much on his mind, but nothing to say

It’s about when you’re sad for no reason

Or angry for no reason

Or scared for no reason

Or scared for lots of reasons

It’s about what makes us feel connected

and what makes us feel disconnected

Es heißt, “Die Offene Tür”

D… O… T… – “DOT”.

it’s about opening the door to our minds

and holding open the door to let everyone in.

[possibly opening door or classroom to admit more kids in science white coats!? Who say:]

An organisation called the Ludwig Boltzmann Gesellschaft

has got together a bunch of boffins

and we mean boffins

from different countries, who all do different things

to try to figure out what helps young people feel safe and supported by their peers

They call it ‘social connectedness’

which means the quality of the relations you have with your peers

like me with you [one kid addressing another]

and you with me

and it’s the key to staying healthy and happy

dealing with the things life throws at us

and the increasingly complex social worlds we face as we get older [with iPhone in hand..?]

they’re talking to experts in every field

teachers,

psychologists,

doctors,

parents

and they’re talking to kids

lots and lots of kids

and piece by piece they’re building up a picture [kid at whiteboard, mapping this into a diagram…]

and creating a whole new programme to take into classrooms

and a whole new online platform too [iPhone kid again?]

with games to help strengthen the skills we need

to maintain healthy social relationships

plus a system for connecting us to other young people going through similar experiences.

And they’re going to look at all this and try to answer a simple question:

“What works?”

Coda – maybe at a set of lockers? ––

Each of us is different.

And when we go home each day, each of us experiences a different home life

[everyone opens their locker door – behind each is a picture with a different image of a home life – some positive, some negative]

that we call normal, whatever you call it

Everyone’s ‘normal’ is different

and learning to recognise that

might just be the key to getting along.

[end]