STARTING SCHOOL Study - University of Birmingham

The Starting School Study is an exploration of smartphone use in pupils transitioning from primary and secondary school, and its impact on pupil social and school connectedness and mental wellbeing in the Birmingham area. This study funded by The Centre for National Training and Research Excellence in Understanding Behaviour (Centre-UB). The study data collection will start in January 2026 and will finish July 2027.

Jacquelynn is a postgraduate researcher interested in how digital technologies shape adolescent social interaction and mental health and wellbeing.
Jacquelynn Ennis
Lead researcher

Meet the team

Staff from the University of Birmingham

Prof Victoria Goodyear - Victoria is a pedagogical researcher in sport, physical activity and health. Her main research area focuses on social media/digital technologies and young people’s health and wellbeing
Prof Miranda Pallan - Miranda’s research mainly focuses on the health of children and adolescents.
Dr Amie Randhawa - Amie is a researcher in adolescent health and wellbeing. She is interested in young peoples’ use of smartphones and social media.
Jacquelynn Ennis - Jacquelynn is a postgraduate researcher interested in how digital technologies shape adolescent social interaction and mental health and wellbeing.

External Collaborator

Dr Paul Patterson - Digital Engagement and Public Health Lead, Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS Foundation Trust: paul.patterson2@nhs.net

Aims of the study

The aim of the Starting School study is to understand the impact of smartphones on mental wellbeing during the transition between primary and secondary school and other factors, including social connectedness, school connectedness, anxiety, depression, and addictive use.

The outcomes from this study will provide guidance for pupils, parents, teachers and schools regarding phone use and mental health.

Why is the research needed?

1 in 5 adolescents (age 11-16) in the UK have a probable mental health disorder.
In moderation, smartphones and social media can be advantageous for mental wellbeing. Yet, negative mental wellbeing tends to increase with the increasing time spent using phones/media and certain kinds of phone use.
This research will help us to determine how to maximise benefits and minimise harms of phones for mental wellbeing and how to provide support for vulnerable individuals during school transitions.

What is involved?

We will recruit primary schools in spring/summer of 2026 and secondary schools in Birmingham to take part in spring/summer of 2027. This longitudinal study aims to follow pupils through the transition from primary to secondary school. To facilitate this, recruitment will focus on primary schools that feed into recruited secondary schools.

We will be using a variety of data collection methods.

Participants will include:

Pupils

A total of 500 primary school pupils (age 10-11) will be involved in the first wave and 500 secondary school pupils (age 11-12) will be involved in the second wave. Efforts will be made to track pupils through their transition from primary to secondary school with the aim of collecting longitudinal data from participating pupils at two timepoints. All pupils who give their assent to participate and will complete an online survey which will ask them about their ethnicity, age, sex, home postcode, mental wellbeing, school and social connectedness, smartphone addiction, anxiety and depression, and their smartphone use.
Of these 500 pupils, a total of 36 pupils in will complete focus group discussions in first wave during primary school and in the second wave during secondary school, giving their views on their smartphone use, connectedness and mental wellbeing.

Teachers

Form tutors (or equivalent class teacher) will submit information about each of their pupils, including whether the pupil is eligible to free school meals, if they are registered as having a special educational need and if English is an additional language.