Newsroom University of Manchester

Study reveals pupils most at risk of school suspension - and what may help them

Fri, 04 Sep 2026 09:00:00 +0100

School suspensions are associated with a complex combination of socioeconomic disadvantage, special educational needs, peer relationships and pupils' experiences of school, according to new research from The University of Manchester.

The study analysed survey responses from more than 19,000 secondary school pupils linked to administrative records across Hampshire & Isle of Wight, to examine a wide range of factors associated with whether pupils were suspended and how often suspensions occurred.

Suspension risk is complex

Researchers found pupils receiving special educational needs (SEN) support or with an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) were more than twice as likely to be suspended than pupils without SEN, while those eligible for free school meals were also at increased risk.

The analysis also identified a number of factors associated with lower suspension risk, including pupils feeling that they belonged at school, being satisfied with their academic attainment, having positive relationships with school staff and having stronger emotion regulation skills.

By contrast, higher levels of peer pressure, experiences of bullying, and recent substance use were associated with an increased likelihood of suspension.

The findings suggest that suspension should not be viewed solely through the lens of individual pupil behaviour, but in the context of the wider circumstances and relationships surrounding young people.

The pupils most at risk

Pupils receiving SEN support were more than twice as likely to be suspended as pupils without SEN, while those with an EHCP also had more than twice the odds of suspension.
Pupils eligible for free school meals were nearly two and a half times more likely to be suspended than those who were not eligible.
Pupils reporting higher levels of peer pressure and experiences of bullying victimisation were more likely to be suspended.
Pupils who reported they had used any substance in the past 30 days were nearly three times more likely to be suspended than those reporting no recent substance use, in part because substance use is itself direct grounds for suspension under DfE guidance.

What could help prevent suspensions?

School belonging, satisfaction with academic attainment and positive relationships with school staff were all associated with lower odds of suspension.
Stronger emotion regulation was also associated with lower suspension risk.
Suspensions are associated with multiple overlapping individual and school-level factors, highlighting the need for preventative approaches that address underlying needs rather than relying solely on disciplinary measures.

The research used data from the #BeeWell programme, a youth wellbeing measurement programme led by The University of Manchester in collaboration with Anna Freud, a children’s mental health charity, and the Gregson Family Foundation.

The #BeeWell survey captures young people's wellbeing alongside factors that can influence it, including school experiences, health behaviours, peer and family relationships and neighbourhood characteristics. Survey responses can be linked with administrative data held by participating local authorities, allowing researchers to examine young people's experiences alongside information about suspension and exclusion.

The researchers analysed data from 19,064 pupils in Years 8 and 10 across 69 mainstream secondary schools in Hampshire and Southampton during the 2023/24 academic year. Around six per cent of pupils in the study had been suspended at least once during the academic year.

Looking beyond suspension and moving towards engagement

“Our findings show that suspension is not simply about what happens in an individual classroom or about a young person's behaviour in isolation,” said lead author Dr Stephanie Cahill. “Pupils' experiences of disadvantage, their relationships with peers and staff, their sense of belonging and their additional educational needs all form part of a much more complex picture.

The researchers say the findings highlight the importance of early intervention and preventative support, particularly for pupils experiencing disadvantage or additional educational needs.

Supportive relationships between pupils and school staff, as well as a strong sense of belonging, may play an important role in helping young people remain engaged with education.

The study also highlights the importance of understanding the different pathways that can lead to suspension– a one-size-fits-all approach is unlikely to work for all pupils.

The researchers caution that the study identifies associations rather than causal relationships. Further research is needed to understand the mechanisms underlying these patterns and how schools can most effectively intervene to prevent suspensions.

“We recognise that the current climate within education has meant that many teachers are working under very challenging conditions and that often ‘blanket’ approaches are taken due to limited capacity,” said Professor Neil Humphrey. “In order to ensure more work can be done to understand individual pathways and prevent suspensions, there needs to be increased support for schools from the government.”

You can find helpful resources from #BeeWell on school belonging here.

Publication details

The study was published in the British Educational Research Journal.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/berj.70250

Teen wellbeing improving after years of post-pandemic concern, major study finds

Wed, 03 Jun 2026 16:01:57 +0100

A major new study of more than 115,000 young people suggests teenage wellbeing may finally be recovering after years of concern over the long-term impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Researchers from the #BeeWell programme based at The University of Manchester found steady improvements in psychological wellbeing, life satisfaction and loneliness among secondary school pupils across Greater Manchester and Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Portsmouth and Southampton between 2021 and 2025.

The findings point to what the researchers describe as a ‘modest but sustained improvement’ in young people’s emotional wellbeing and social connection.

Key findings

• The proportion of young people reporting good psychological wellbeing rose from 51% in 2021 to 57% in 2025
• Average life satisfaction increased from 6.32 to 6.73 out of 10
• The proportion reporting elevated emotional difficulties fell from 17% to 14%
• Reports of feeling lonely always or often fell from 12% to 9%
• The amount of pupils reporting a strong sense of school belonging rose from 46% to 53%

What else did the study find?

Researchers analysed wellbeing trends among Year 10 pupils using five years of #BeeWell survey data collected from over 300 schools.

The study found evidence of gradual improvement in participating areas across several core indicators of wellbeing following years of widespread concern about young people’s mental health after the pandemic. These improvements may reflect a range of factors, including changes in local population composition.

Psychological wellbeing and life satisfaction both increased steadily over the period studied, while emotional difficulties and loneliness declined.

Researchers say the findings suggest many young people are beginning to feel more connected, supported and optimistic than they did in the immediate aftermath of Covid-19 disruption.

Why it matters

The findings are significant because they provide some indication of improvement in mental health indicators among young people in participating areas after years of concern about declining wellbeing.

Researchers say the results also reinforce the importance of school belonging, trusted adult relationships and positive peer environments in supporting wellbeing.

The report found that young people who felt more connected to school and supported by staff generally experienced better wellbeing outcomes and stronger attendance.

Teachers increasingly providing mental health assistance

The research also found growing numbers of young people are turning to teachers for mental health support.

The proportion reporting they had contacted a teacher about mental health at least sometimes rose from 17% in 2022 to 23% in 2025.

The researchers say this highlights the increasingly important role schools are playing in supporting young people’s wellbeing.

Inequalities remain

Despite the overall positive trends, the report warns that improvements have not been experienced equally across all groups.

Young people with special educational needs showed little sustained improvement in wellbeing across the five-year period.

LGBTQ+ young people also continued to report substantially lower wellbeing, lower life satisfaction and higher rates of bullying than their peers.

Researchers say these persistent inequalities underline the need for continued focus on inclusive school environments and targeted support.

What the researchers say

“More young people are reporting good wellbeing, loneliness is falling and emotional difficulties are reducing – which are encouraging findings – but the picture is not the same for everyone. Significant inequalities remain, particularly for LGBTQ+ young people and those with special educational needs, and that remains a major challenge.”

Report details

The latest #BeeWell findings report can be found here.

Feeling connected at school aids pupil mental health and attendance, study finds

Tue, 19 May 2026 09:47:24 +0100

Strong relationships with school staff and a sense of belonging at school can protect teenagers’ mental wellbeing and help reduce absences, according to new findings from The University of Manchester’s #BeeWell programme. The large-scale study shows that while poor mental health can drive disengagement from school, positive day-to-day school experiences play a critical role in protecting young people.

About the study

The researchers tracked more than 25,000 students from Year 8 to Year 10 (age 12/13 to 14/15) across 154 secondary schools in England, using attendance records as well as three years of data from the #BeeWell programme. #BeeWell is a collaboration between The University of Manchester, The Gregson Family Foundation and Anna Freud who, together with the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA), launched the programme in 2019.

The study found that students who felt more connected to their school and had stronger relationships with staff experienced fewer emotional difficulties (e.g., worry, low mood) over time, while also supporting better attendance. The findings suggest schools should prioritise students’ experiences of connection and support, rather than focusing on attendance alone.

At the same time, increases in emotional difficulties were shown to predict later declines in school belonging and relationships with staff – which suggests that poor mental health can gradually erode students’ connection to school.

How are mental health and school experiences linked?

The study identified a clear pattern in which mental health and school experiences influence one another over time.  When young people experienced increased emotional distress, they were more likely to feel less connected to their school and report weaker relationships with staff in the following year. For some students, particularly girls, worsening mental health also predicted increased absence from school.  However, positive school experiences worked in the opposite direction, helping to protect later mental health.

Why do relationships with staff and belonging matter?

The findings show that supportive relationships and a sense of belonging are not just associated with better mental health - they can actively protect it.  For boys, stronger relationships with school staff drove later reductions in emotional difficulties. For girls, feeling a strong sense of belonging to the school community played a particularly important protective role.

Does attendance improve mental health?

The study found no evidence that simply improving attendance leads to better mental health.  While attendance is often used as a key indicator of student wellbeing, the findings suggest it is more a signal of underlying difficulties than a direct driver of mental health outcomes. In contrast, students’ subjective experiences of school were much more strongly linked to changes in their wellbeing.

What are the implications for schools?

The researchers say the findings point to the importance of strengthening everyday school experiences, and with the GMCA are working with the GM Local Action Attendance Alliance to develop a whole system response to attendance challenges facing schools  This includes building supportive relationships between staff and students, fostering a sense of belonging across the school community, and identifying emotional difficulties early before they lead to disengagement.

Researcher quotes

“Our findings show that how young people experience school on a day-to-day basis really matters,” said Dr Qiqi Cheng, lead author of the study. “While schools rightly focus on making progress on attendance, what happens once pupils are inside the school gates is equally crucial."

Professor Neil Humphrey, academic lead of #BeeWell, said: “Attendance matters, but these findings show that it should not be viewed in isolation. Young people also need to feel that they belong, that they are noticed, and that they have supportive relationships with adults in school. Through #BeeWell, we are working with partners across Greater Manchester to ensure that responses to attendance challenges also support young people’s mental wellbeing

Publication details

This research was published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaac.2026.04.001

Young people’s wellbeing is improving in Greater Manchester, major survey finds

Tue, 24 Mar 2026 12:08:50 +0000

A major survey of tens of thousands of school pupils has revealed a welcome boost in wellbeing among young people across Greater Manchester.

The latest findings from pupils in years 7, 8 and 10 show that more young people now report good levels of wellbeing than in previous years, continuing a positive trend that has developed steadily over the past five years of the programme. In 2025, 59.1% of Year 10 pupils reported good levels of wellbeing, up from 55.1% in 2024. Among younger pupils the trend is similar, with 67.7% of Year 7 pupils reporting good wellbeing compared with 64.2% last year.

The #BeeWell programme at The University of Manchester has now heard from more than 143,000 young people in Greater Manchester since it began, making it one of the largest studies of young people’s wellbeing of its kind anywhere in the world. It provides a powerful insight into how teenagers feel about their lives, schools and communities.

While the overall picture is encouraging, young people involved in the programme say the results also highlight areas where change is still needed. Each year the #BeeWell Youth Steering Group - made up of young people from across Greater Manchester - chooses the issues they believe matter most in the survey results. This year they highlighted three themes they felt were especially important: loneliness and the role communities play in tackling it, relationships with teachers and a sense of belonging at school, and whether young people feel they are gaining the skills they need to be prepared for life.

The survey shows that loneliness among young people has begun to fall since the early years of the programme, when more than half of Year 10 pupils said they felt lonely at least occasionally. By 2025 that figure had dropped to around four in ten young people. Despite this improvement, loneliness remains a significant issue for many teenagers, and the findings suggest that communities have a key role to play in helping young people feel more connected.

Only around half of young people say there are people in their local area they can trust, and just over half say they have an adult outside their home or school who listens to them. Young people involved in the programme say that having welcoming places to spend time, trusted adults nearby and stronger community connections could make a real difference to how supported young people feel.

Relationships within schools also emerged as an important theme in the data. The survey suggests that positive relationships with teachers and staff are closely linked to whether young people feel they belong at school and whether they attend regularly. Just under a third of Year 7 pupils say they have the strongest relationships with staff at school, but this falls as young people get older, dropping to around one in five by Year 10.

At the same time, the number of young people who say they feel they belong at school has risen slightly over the past year. Young people say strengthening relationships between staff and pupils could help improve both wellbeing and attendance, as feeling supported and understood at school plays a key role in whether students feel comfortable and engaged in the classroom.

Young people also wanted the report to explore whether schools are helping them prepare for life beyond education. The findings show that four in five young people believe they will have the skills and knowledge they need when they finish school, a figure that has increased since the programme first began collecting data.

Levels of hope and optimism among young people are also high, with most saying they feel positive about the future. However, only around two thirds of young people say the careers education they receive is useful. Young people involved in the programme say they would like clearer guidance about the wide range of opportunities available to them, including modern careers and different pathways after school.

#BeeWell was launched in 2019 through a partnership between The University of Manchester, The Gregson Family Foundation, Anna Freud and the Greater Manchester Combined Authority. Each year the programme asks tens of thousands of secondary school pupils about their wellbeing, their schools, their communities and their hopes for the future. By sharing the results with schools, local organisations and decision makers, the programme aims to ensure young people’s voices help shape the support available to them.

“It is incredibly heartening to see this steady climb in wellbeing across our city region - the figures represent thousands of young lives trending toward a more positive future,” said Professor Neil Humphrey from The University of Manchester. “These important gains likely stem from a combination of enhanced local provision and broader population shifts, but the data offers a sobering reminder of the work ahead.”

“Thank you to the 57,000 young people who shared their views this year, and to the 161 schools who made it possible,” said Councillor Mark Roberts, Greater Manchester’s portfolio lead for children and young people. “Over five years #BeeWell has now heard from more than 143,000 young people, making this the biggest exercise of its kind.

“In Greater Manchester, we have committed to improving the wellbeing of young people across the city region, and it is through #BeeWell that we can track our progress. As this year’s results show, there is a need to continue strengthening relationships in schools to improve attendance, ensuring young people remain involved in the development of our Live Well approach, and working so that every young person has a clear line of sight to good jobs, through programmes like the MBacc and Beeline.

“We will continue to act on the views of young people across our city region, and be guided by our excellent Youth Steering Group, so that every young person in Greater Manchester can thrive.”

"This is just the start. It's encouraging to see wellbeing improving, but we are at the beginning of a long journey and we’re excited to see how things continue to improve,” said Daniel & Ayisha from the #BeeWell Youth Steering Group. “There are still worrying signs in the data, particularly in the inequalities we see. There are a lot of young people worried about these topics and a lot of work to be done. It's important young people are leading the next steps and actions following the results."