Fostering school belonging – Kate Dalzell reflects on our recent webinar 

In case you missed it, in early May we were joined by Prof Neil Humphrey, Academic Lead for #BeeWell, and Roisin McEvoy, Head of Training and National Programmes at Anna Freud, for a schools webinar as part of our Spotlight On School Belonging.

Neil shared insights from #BeeWell’s latest research, highlighting how young people’s school-based experiences such as relationships with staff, happiness with attainment, and bullying experiences influence their feelings of connection to their school. Roisin then explored some of the practical implications of this for school staff and students. She highlighted issues from effective approaches to addressing bullying to different ways schools can support connection, such as the use of reflective space, and small groups and clubs for pupils.

Read more and catch up on the full webinar here.

The Council for Social Responsibility (CSR) and #BeeWell have been working together to support a group of young people from Hampshire in creating a wellbeing podcast. Through real-life stories and open, informal conversations, young people share their personal experiences, providing valuable insight and education for listeners of all ages. Read the blog and listen to the podcast!

As part of our new Spotlight On Success, we will be championing projects such as this on our social media. By platforming young people’s voices, fostering confidence and self-expression, these initiatives are supporting young people to pursue success, however young people define it.

Over recent months, we’ve been sharing the latest #BeeWell GM headline findings with partners, young people and schools across the city-region. We’ve heard more about how the data is already being used and what might be driving some of our latest headline findings. Here are some recent highlights and where you can find out more:

• Celebrating creativity and wellbeing at Falinge Park High School’s launch of their Arts, Words and Wellbeing Garden: As part of their Artsmark #BeeWell project with Curious Minds, young people at Falinge Park High School have led the creation of a new arts and wellbeing focused garden! Learn more here.

• Exploring the #BeeWell data with Senior Mental Health Leads in Oldham: Every year we join Oldham’s network of Senior Mental Health Leads to explore the local and their school-level #BeeWell data. Read reflections from this year’s session and insights on how the data is being used here!

• Wigan Youth Cabinet discusses the latest #BeeWell data: Young people at Wigan Youth Cabinet have been leading the local response to their #BeeWell data, and recently we were given the opportunity to share our latest headline findings with them and discuss what they might want to focus on locally. You can read some of their reflections on the Greater Manchester #BeeWell headline findings in our blog.

Cross-party support for our amendment in the House of Lords! 

Former Cabinet Secretary Lord O’Donnell has tabled an amendment to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, calling for national children and young people’s wellbeing measurement, with support from the Our Wellbeing, Our Voice coalition.

The amendment has received cross-party backing, being sponsored by Baroness Tyler of Enfield, Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Mental Health; Lord Moynihan, former Sports Minister under the Conservatives; and Labour peer Lord Layard, an esteemed wellbeing economist. Here’s the link to the amendment.

During Committee Stage, Peers will review proposed amendments to the Bill. The Our Wellbeing, Our Voice coalition has produced a briefing to support members of the House of Lords as they prepare. Read the briefing here.

Many thanks to the over 50 organisations working hard on the Our Wellbeing, Our Voice campaign!

Welcome to the Young Researchers class of 2025! 

We were delighted to welcome our latest cohort of Young Researchers in May. These year 10 pupils will be joining us for a five-part course which introduces them to the world of academic research, with a focus on wellbeing.

This year our young researchers have chosen to focus on the relationships between stress, school pressure, listening to music and reading for pleasure, and sexual orientation. They’ll be working closely with our researchers at The University of Manchester and Anna Freud, and getting hands on with the #BeeWell data. We can’t wait to hear what they find out!

In the meantime, why not check out last year’s Young Researchers report which looked at friendships and social support, stress, happiness with the home environment, and gender differences.

Our latest six monthly progress report is available to read, covering all the progress that has been made across GM and HIPS, as well as our research outputs and national campaign.

Our next national Coalition of Partners meeting will be on 10th July from 4-5PM! Click here to sign up!

We want to hear what you’d find most useful. If you can spare 2 minutes, let us know!