Schools Opportunity: Gain Insights into Students’ Sense of Belonging

At the University of Bath, our Connected Belonging team have developed an anonymous online survey to help schools gain insights into the sense of connection and belonging different groups of their pupils experience. This helps inform schools’ wellbeing strategies by giving them valuable data to guide their decisions. 

Thanks to ESRC IAA Funding from the University of Bath, we are inviting Primary and Secondary schools to take part in our Connected Belonging Survey. The opportunity is open until mid December 2025.

Schools who take part receive an insight report giving feedback about their students’ responses. This shows areas of strength and weakness for different social groups (e.g. PP/FSM, SEND, ESL, gender etc). They also receive an Amazon voucher.

Taking part for a Primary School involves entering a cohort of c.60 students from years 4, 5 and/or 6 to complete the survey and sending anonymised cohort data (PP/FSM, SEND, ESL status) for those students via a spreadsheet we supply. Primary Schools will receive a £100 voucher with their insight report

Secondary Schools who take part enter a cohort of 150 students from any year group and send anonymised cohort data (PP/FSM, SEND, ESL status) for them via the spreadsheet we supply. These schools will received a £150 voucher with their insight report

The spreadsheet allocates each student a unique number that they enter into the survey to access the questions. This allows us to connect the students’ answers to their demographic data while retaining their anonymity and privacy. 

Connected Belonging has been developed following six years’ research into school wellbeing support, and collaboration with young people, educators and MHSTs. Read more about this collaboration here: Knowledge Exchange: Improving Wellbeing in Schools with Connected Belonging | Department of Education Research Blog

Find out more about Connected Belonging: Connected Belonging

Read our Peer-Reviewed Article on Connected Belonging in the British Educational Research Journal: Connected Belonging: A relational and identity‐based approach to schools’ role in promoting child wellbeing

Contact Alison Douthwaite on ad879@bath.ac.uk to request a place for your school.