Project Overview
HAPPEN is a network of health, education and research professionals aiming to improve the health, wellbeing and education outcomes of primary school children in Wales.
The network was developed following qualitative research with headteachers who felt overburdened with initiatives, called for a better understanding of school needs and wanted a more collaborative approach to improving school health.
Through HAPPEN, objective and self-reported fitness and health data is collected on children aged 9-11 through the HAPPEN survey. We feed this back to schools through individualised school reports and infographics tailored to the new curriculum, comparing the health and wellbeing of pupils to county averages, alongside health guidelines and links to local school-based health initiatives.
This dissemination of data gives schools the autonomy to choose areas of the report to prioritise.
So far, we have collected data on more than 6,000 primary pupils in south Wales.
HAPPEN also acts as a platform for the evaluation of school-based interventions including Outdoor Learning and the Daily Mile.
A novel aspect of HAPPEN is the use of data linkage – data collected on pupils is linked to anonymous, routinely collected electronic health data including GP records, hospital admissions and educational attainment using the SAIL (Secure Anonymised Information Linkage) Databank.
If you could like your primary school to take part in the HAPPEN survey, please email happen-wales@swansea.ac.uk.
