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As the new school year begins, we’d like to extend a warm welcome back to all our partner schools, staff, and students. We are excited to continue working with you to champion young people’s wellbeing.
Thank you for your continued support and partnership – here’s to another impactful year ahead!
Throughout September, in our Spotlight On Healthy Choices, we’re sharing fresh #BeeWell insights, from how health behaviours can shape wellbeing, to why girls move less than boys and how we can help, alongside the impact of digital tech on mental health, and whether different aspects of the schools and neighbourhoods influence substance use.
Find out more: https://beewellprogramme.org/spotlight-on-healthy-choices-latest-insights-from-the-beewell-data/
Over the summer, we joined Plan UK’s event celebrating the conclusion of their Young Health Programme UK (YHP UK).
Take a look at our reflection on the programme and how we collaborated through the Community of Practice element.
Our reflection: Plan UK’s Young Health Programme
At the end of the summer term, we facilitated a session at Sharples School in Bolton, giving young people the opportunity to share their thoughts and experiences around wellbeing with their elected representative. It was fantastic to hear from such an engaged group about wellbeing in their local area.
A big thank you to Sharples School for hosting us, and to Kirith Entwistle MP for taking part!
Find out more: Kirith Entwistle MP visits Sharples School
Over the past few months, the Greater Manchester Combined Authority released the new Greater Manchester Strategy, which includes commitments to act on the voices of young people captured through the #BeeWell survey.
Find out more: New 10 year strategy for Greater Manchester
Over the summer, we have been acting upon feedback from partners and making some small updates to the neighbourhood dashboard for Greater Manchester, including converting some items into easier to read percentages, refreshing the visuals and ensuring you can easily access all four years of data in one place.
You can view the dashboard on the same link, here: #BeeWell Neighbourhood Data Hive. Please get in touch with beewell@manchester.ac.uk if you have any further feedback or would like further support in using the dashboard.
A new partnership between Music Fusion and Havant & East Hants Mind is supporting young people across HIPS to boost their confidence, build connections, and improve their wellbeing.
Chosen by over 1,000 young people through #BeeWell youth commissioning, this youth-led project is already making a real difference.
Find out how: Music & Wellbeing Unite for Young People in HIPS
#BeeWell data on smoking and vaping has been shared with our local stop-smoking provider, Smoke Free Hampshire, to support the development of their services for children and young people.
They plan to use the data to inform the locations of their new quit smoking and quit vaping clinics for young people. This will ensure that the service is targeted to areas with higher prevalence of youth smoking and vaping and that resources are prioritised effectively depending on local need.
Some fantastic Youth Advisors from a local youth charity Motiv8 are working on a new video and assembly plan that demonstrates the impact that can be achieved through measuring young people’s wellbeing and acting upon it!
The resources will be available to HIPS schools who have signed up to participate in the autumn term.
LGBTQ+ young people are disproportionately affected by the UK’s youth mental health crisis, yet they’re too often left out of mainstream support. On 2nd September, PBE hosted a webinar exploring how identity-affirming, community-based services like Free2Talk are making a real difference.
The session featured findings from a new report by PBE in partnership with Free2B, highlighting the positive impact of the Free2Talk mentoring programme. The report makes a strong case for why inclusive, identity-affirming support should be a priority in mental health investment.
Professor Neil Humphrey, co-lead of the research, shared key psychological findings from the report, highlighting that Free2B “gives young people a space where they can be themselves without fear, and that sense of safety is what allows real change to happen.”
We are also excited to share that new analysis from The University of Manchester, authored by #BeeWell researcher Dr Qiqi Cheng, has now been published. The report offers important insights into the mental health experiences of LGBTQ+ young people, highlighting the value of tailored, community-led interventions.
Read the PBE report: Seen, safe and supported: The economic benefits of mentoring LGBTQ+ young people
Thank you to everyone who joined our recent national Coalition of Partners event!
We were delighted to welcome colleagues from across sectors and both #BeeWell regions, all united by a shared commitment to making young people’s wellbeing everybody’s business.
Together, we explored how #BeeWell data is being turned into action: from local projects in Greater Manchester and Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Portsmouth and Southampton (HIPS) to youth-led podcasts, cross-sector partnerships, and wellbeing-focused curricula.
We also shared updates on national research and advocacy, including our growing Our Wellbeing, Our Voice campaign which is now backed by over 60 organisations.
Stay tuned to hear about our next event in January 2026!
Thank you for reading!
