Fostering school belonging - Kate Dalzell reflects on #BeeWell’s recent webinar spotlighting “school belonging”
It was great to have the opportunity to reflect with colleagues at our webinar last week as part of our Spotlight On school belonging. The recently published #BeeWell findings on this are based on feedback from approximately 40,000 young people across Greater Manchester, Hampshire, Southampton, Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight - a rich opportunity for us to understand more about their experiences.
At the webinar, Prof Neil Humphrey (#BeeWell’s Academic Lead) presented findings from #BeeWell data about how feelings of belonging at school are associated with feelings of wellbeing, and about how levels of school belonging vary for different groups of young people. These findings were also particularly helpful in unpicking what the #BeeWell data can show us about how other school-based experiences influence that sense of belonging - including that pupils’ relationships with staff, their happiness with their attainment and experiences of bullying can be key.
Roisin McEvoy (Head of Training and National Programmes at Anna Freud) explored some of the practical implications of this for school staff and students. As well as highlighting effective approaches for addressing bullying, and students’ feelings about their attainment, Rosin drew attention to some key moments for students - such as the primary to secondary transition - and to some underlying considerations, in particular the wellbeing of staff. Roisin offered up some examples of different types of connection and support that can help, such as reflective space and supervision for staff, and small groups and clubs for pupils that provide opportunities for small communities.
The webinar was enriched by the opportunity to discuss these inputs with fellow webinar attendees in small groups. There were interesting discussions about possible reasons for feelings of school belonging being lower for Year 10 than for Year 8 students, and what might explain that falling over time. Some of the different approaches that primary schools and secondary schools take to develop a sense of school belonging were explored, with some helpful reflections about the importance of supporting transitions between classes, and of building relationships with parents and carers.
If you weren’t able to join the webinar, please do take a look at the presentations and recordings which are freely available here.
School Belonging webinar recording
We will be hosting further webinars to explore key themes and findings coming up through #BeeWell - please do sign up to our newsletter, keep an eye on #BeeWell social media feeds, or email us at beewellprogramme@manchester.ac.uk if there’s anything you’d like to see covered in future sessions.
Kate Dalzell, CORC Lead and Head of Evidence Led Improvement