Optimisation and pilot RCT of the ‘Belonging’ brief interventions to build school belonging, promote mental health and prevent violence in secondary schools
A brief set of classroom exercises for students and teachers aims to boost school belonging and curb violence and mental ill health among English secondary school pupils. Mental health problems, violence, and substance use in young people often stem from a weak sense of belonging at school. Existing programmes like Learning Together work but are too complex for schools to run after the pandemic. This project combines two short, evidence-based interventions from the US—one for students, one for teachers—and adapts them for English schools. The student exercises reduce school anxiety; the teacher exercises build empathy toward misbehaving students and cut suspensions for violence. If successful, the pilot will show whether a full-scale trial is feasible. That trial could then test whether a low-cost, two-session approach can improve student mental wellbeing and reduce disciplinary incidents across UK secondary schools. The project does not aim to produce immediate policy change—it tests whether the methods and measures work in English schools before committing to a larger effectiveness study.
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Research questions 1) Is it possible to optimise the ‘Belonging’ intervention for English secondary schools? 2) Is progression to phase III trial justified re. intervention & trial feasibility & acceptability? 3) Are outcome and covariate measures well completed & reliable? 4) With what rates are schools recruited & retained? 5) What do qualitative data suggest about how context influences implementation & interacts with intervention mechanisms? 6) Are potential harms suggested & how might these be mitigated? 7) What is usual practice in control schools? 8) Are methods for economic evaluation feasible? Background Mental ill health, violence & substance use often arise from young people’s lack of school belonging. The Learning Together intervention reduced bullying & promoted mental health among English secondary school students via building school belonging, in line with broader evidence. But post-Covid, schools struggle to deliver complex interventions & brief interventions are needed. The most promising 2 such interventions promote student belonging via focused exercises. The first engages students via 2 classroom sessions aiming to reduce school anxiety, with trial-reported impacts on reduced disciplinary incidents & academic anxiety, & improved school belonging & attainment. The second builds teacher empathy towards misbehaving students via 2 short online exercises, with trial-reported reductions in suspensions for violence & anti-social behaviour. Replication studies confirm these results. Studies with university students report mental & physical health impacts. No studies have examined impacts beyond the United States or on secondary school student health. We will combine & pilot these interventions. Objectives & timelines 1. To combined the above student & teacher interventions and culturally optimise for English secondary schools (branded as the ‘Belonging’ intervention) informed by public & policy involvement (March 2025-August 2025). 2. To recruit 6 schools for the pilot trial (March 2025), conduct baseline year-8 student & teacher surveys, & randomise 4 schools to intervention & 2 to comparator (May-July 2025). 3. To implement the interventions to year-9 students & teachers (September 2025- July 2026). 4. To conduct process evaluation (September 2025-July 2026). 5. To conduct follow-up year-9 student & teacher surveys 12 months post-baseline (May-July 2026). 6. To analyse data (December 2025-September 2026). 7. To write outputs (February-September 2026). Methods Phase 1 Optimisation will combine the student & teacher interventions to form the ‘Belonging’ intervention, informed by work with students & staff from 2 schools plus groups of disengaged students, parents & policy-makers. Phase 2 A pilot 2-arm school cluster trial will compare the ‘Belonging’ intervention in 4 English secondary schools versus usual practice in 2 schools, piloting the feasibility & acceptability of the intervention & evaluation. Year-8 students (age 13/14) & teachers will be surveyed at baseline & 12 months later. Outcomes to be piloted are student strengths & difficulties, & mental wellbeing (primary) &various secondary outcomes. Process evaluation will examine fidelity, reach, acceptability, mechanisms, potential harms & contextual influences. Economic evaluation will pilot utility & costing methods. Anticipated impact & dissemination This will focus on assessing the value of a phase III trial of effectiveness.
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