A major project which is following the lives of thousands of Bradford children has reached a major milestone with the testing of its 10,000th child.
The Primary School Years study is tracking children who are part of the Born in Bradford study as they grow up.
It aims to collect information from 20,000 young people in an effort to understand children’s movement and cognitive (e.g. memory, attention) skills, issues around their wellbeing and happiness, and how well they are doing in school.
Researchers are currently collecting information with children aged 8 to 10 years old across 90 of the city’s primary schools.
On Wednesday at (April 18) at Thornbury Primary Leadership Academy, researchers celebrated with children at the school where the 10,000th child was tested.
Born in Bradford Programme Director, Dr Rosie McEachan, said: “We are delighted to reach this fantastic milestone of testing 10,000 children in the city, which has only been made possible thanks to the huge support we have received from Bradford primary schools and parents.
Wellbeing and happiness
“Children who take part in our study are being asked to take part in a variety of games that measure children’s memory and their hand-eye coordination. They are also being asked to complete a short questionnaire about their wellbeing and happiness.
“The results will help us to identify which children need extra support with their learning, and the researchers from the primary school years’ team will feed this back to their class teachers.
“Our findings will help us to identify how we can best support children’s learning to allow all children to reach their potential, and will have a great impact in Bradford and beyond.”
The Born in Bradford study began in 2007 and involves 13,500 children across the city and district. The study has tracked the health and wellbeing of children, and their families, since they were born. Thanks to all the participants, the study has already provided new insights into the health of babies, children and their families that have been shared across the world.
Thornbury Primary Leadership Academy Deputy Head Teacher Helen Ray added: “Teachers and staff at Thornbury Academy were excited to be part of the Born in Bradford (BiB) Primary School Years project and to be involved in the 10,000th child assessed milestone event in school. We value the work that BiB is doing to understand how children grow and develop, and how they learn.
Important research
“We were involved in their previous study when children were in Reception class at the start of their education (Starting School) and are happy to support this important research”
The Primary School Years study is funded by the Medical Research Council and Economic and Social Research Council. The project forms part of the larger Born in Bradford programme of research to revisit all of Born in Bradford’s original participants, and see how their lives have changed since signing up to the study a decade ago.
Born in Bradford are inviting all participating families to meet a member of the research team and take part in their Growing Up study over the next two years.
For more information, please visit www.borninbradford.nhs.uk