Belonging is felt in the confidence to walk into a classroom, the ease of joining a game, the reassurance of knowing, This is my place. When that sense is present, boys flourish. When it is missing, even the most capable child can struggle in silence.

Few stories illustrate the power of belonging more vividly than Band of Brothers.

Although set against the backdrop of war, the enduring strength of the series lies not in its battles, but in the bonds formed within Easy Company. These men were not born brothers. They became so through shared experience, challenge, and mutual reliance. What sustained them was not bravado or individual strength, but the certainty that they belonged to one another - that they were part of something that would not abandon them when things became difficult.

Belonging, in Band of Brothers, is not sentimental. It is earned and reinforced through daily actions. Under pressure, pretence disappears. What remains is a simple human truth: I am safer, stronger, and braver because I am not alone.

That truth is just as relevant in a prep school setting - especially for young boys still learning who they are and where they fit.

Children’s Mental Health Week, with its theme “This is my place”, invites us to think carefully about how children experience belonging in their everyday lives. For boys at prep school, this sense of place is still being formed. They are navigating friendships, competition, expectations, independence, and identity - often for the first time away from home if they are boarding. The question they are quietly asking is the same one at the heart of mental wellbeing: Do I belong here?

For many men, school was the first environment where belonging truly mattered. It was where friendships were forged through shared routines, victories, failures, discipline, and play. Those experiences did more than create memories; they shaped character and confidence. This is why so many men remain loyal to their schools long after they have left, supporting old boy associations not simply out of nostalgia, but because those years represented a formative sense of place - this is where I became me.

Prep schools sit at the very beginning of that journey.

When boys feel that they belong - to their class, their house, their team, or their wider school community - they are more likely to be resilient, engaged, and emotionally secure. They are more willing to take healthy risks, ask for help, and support others. Belonging provides the foundation on which academic progress, confidence, and wellbeing are built.

Importantly, belonging does not mean fitting a mould. It means being known and accepted within a community that values effort, kindness, and growth as much as achievement. Boys need to feel that there is a place for them whether they are loud or quiet, confident or cautious, sporty or creative. For parents, this means recognising that success at prep school is not only about outcomes, but about whether your son feels that he has a place.

Belonging also brings responsibility. In Easy Company, each man mattered because others depended on him. In school life, boys who feel they belong are more likely to look out for one another, to show loyalty, and to take pride in their community. This sense of mutual responsibility is learned early and lasts a lifetime.

As parents, you play a vital role in reinforcing this message. Simple conversations - asking not just what your son did at school, but how he felt; noticing friendships as much as grades; affirming that challenges are part of belonging, not a sign of failure - can make a profound difference. When home and school work together to send the message you are safe, valued, and you belong, boys internalise it.

The men of Band of Brothers returned to one another decades later, not as soldiers, but as witnesses to each other’s lives. That enduring connection began with a shared sense of place. For boys in prep school today, Children’s Mental Health Week reminds us that the places we create now - classrooms, playgrounds, teams, and homes - will shape how they see themselves for years to come.

In a world where children can feel pressure to perform and compare from an increasingly young age, the theme “This is my place” is both timely and essential. Belonging is not a luxury or an optional extra. It is central to mental health, confidence, and identity.

We may never ask our sons to face the extremes of a battlefield, but we do ask them to be brave every day - to try, to fail, to make friends, to grow. In those moments, belonging can be the difference between anxiety and assurance. Like the men of Easy Company, boys are strongest not when they stand alone, but when they know - deep down - that they have a place where they belong.

The real-life members of Easy Company (2nd Battalion of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment (PIR), which was assigned to the 101st Airborne Division)

Craig Cuyler
Designated Safeguarding Lead/Director of Wellbeing/
Head of PSHEe/Assistant Housemaster (Main School)