Emily Marchant

• Doctor of Philosophy
• Postdoctoral researcher at Swansea University

Childhood is a period of significant formative development where knowledge, skills, and capacities for adequate health literacy are acquired, particularly within school settings. The new Curriculum for Wales (CfW), phasing in from September 2022 for learners aged 3–16 years, places statutory focus on health and well-being and school-level curriculu...

Purpose Health and Attainment of Pupils in a Primary Education National (HAPPEN) is a primary school national cohort which brings together education, health and well-being research in line with the Curriculum for Wales framework. Health, education and social care data are linked and held in the Secure Anonymised Information Linkage (SAIL) Databank....

Background Health literacy (HL) is a modifiable factor contributing to the promotion and maintenance of health and well-being throughout an individual’s life. Identified as a priority in Wales, UK in 2010, progress has since stalled despite health and education as national policy priorities and international policy growth. There is a gap in underst...

A growing body of evidence demonstrates the importance of enhancing health literacy for improved health outcomes, self-reported health, lower health services use and disease prevention. Importantly, improving health literacy has great potential to reduce health inequities and inequalities. The World Health Organization (WHO) has identified health l...

Background Skin cancer comprises half of all cancers in England and Wales. Most skin cancers can be prevented with safer sun exposure. As over exposure as a child can greatly increase future skin cancer risk, early and accessible sun safety education and promotion of sun safe behaviours is critical. Scientists agree there is no such thing as a ‘saf...

Purpose HAPPEN is a primary school national cohort which brings together education, health and wellbeing research in line with the Curriculum for Wales framework for health and wellbeing. Health, education and social care data of primary school children are linked and held in the Secure Anonymised Information Linkage (SAIL) Databank. In addition, s...

The COVID-19 pandemic caused far-reaching societal changes, including significant educational impacts affecting over 1.6 billion pupils and 100 million education practitioners globally. Senior school leaders were at the forefront and were exposed to particularly high demands during a period of “crisis leadership”. This occupation were already repor...

Introduction This study examines the changes in childhood self-reported health and wellbeing between 2014 and 2022. Methods An annual survey delivered by HAPPEN-Wales, in collaboration with 500 primary schools, captured self-reported data on physical health, dietary habits, mental health, and overall wellbeing for children aged 8–11 years. Result...

Background School readiness is a measure of a child’s cognitive, social, and emotional readiness to begin formal schooling. Children with low school readiness need additional support from schools for learning, developing required social and academic skills, and catching-up with their school-ready peers. This study aims to identify the most signific...

Background Skin cancer comprises half of all cancers in England and Wales. Most skin cancers can be prevented with safer sun exposure. As over exposure as a child can greatly increase future skin cancer risk, early and accessible sun safe education and promotion of sun safe behaviours is critical. Scientists agree there is no such thing as a ‘safe...

Background Research has demonstrated the impact of COVID-19 school closures on pupils’ health, well-being, learning and development and the challenges faced by teaching and support staff. There was, however, no evidence on the effects on school leaders. The COVID-19 Leadership Survey explored this by surveying senior school leaders (headteachers an...

The COVID-19 pandemic caused far-reaching societal changes, including significant educational impacts, affecting over 1.6 billion pupils and 100 million education practitioners globally. Senior school leaders were at the forefront; an occupation already reporting high work-related stress and large numbers leaving the profession preceding COVID-19,...

Objectives: We investigated SARS-CoV-2 infection trends, risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 vaccination uptake among school staff, students and their household members in Wales, UK. Design: Seven-day average of SARS-CoV-2 infections and polymerase chain reaction tests per 1000 people daily, cumulative incidence of COVID-19 vaccination upt...

This study examines the changes in childhood self-reported health and wellbeing between 2014 and 2022. An annual survey delivered by HAPPEN-Wales, in collaboration with 500 primary schools, captured self-reported data on physical health, dietary habits, mental health, and overall wellbeing for children aged 8-11 years. The findings reveal a decline...

Objective Globally, 20 million children are born with a birth weight below 2500 g every year, which is considered as a low birthweight (LBW) baby. This study investigates the contribution of modifiable risk factors in a nationally representative Welsh e-cohort of children and their mothers to inform opportunities to reduce LBW prevalence. Design A...

Background Evidence before the pandemic suggests that school headteachers report high work-related stress and psychological/physical burden compared to other professional groups (1). There is an evidence gap exploring the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on senior leaders in schools who have experienced high demands as a result of COVID-19. This is...

Play is central to children’s physical and social development. This study examines changes in children’s response to questions on play opportunities between 2016 and 2021. Primary school children aged 8–11 in Wales participated in the HAPPEN survey between 2016 and 2021. The survey captures a range of information about children’s health and wellbei...

Objectives Examine if pre-COVID-19 pandemic (prior March 2020) health-related behaviours during primary school are associated with (1) being tested for SARS-CoV-2 and (2) testing positive between 1 March 2020 and 31 August 2021. Design Retrospective cohort study using an online cohort survey (January 2018 to February 2020) linked with routine PCR...

Background School readiness is a measure of a child’s cognitive, social, and emotional readiness to begin formal schooling. Children with low school readiness need additional support from schools for learning, developing required social and academic skills, and catching-up with their school-ready peers. This study aims to identify the modifiable ri...

This is the fourth Active Healthy Kids (AHK) Wales Report Card. The 2021 card produced grades on children and young people’s physical activity (PA) using pre-COVID-19 data that were not used in previous versions. Eleven quality indicators of PA were graded through expert consensus and synthesis of the best available evidence. Grades were assigned a...

Background Globally 20 million children are born with a birth weight below 2,500 grams every year which is considered as a low birthweight (LBW) baby. This study investigates the contribution of modifiable risk factors to inform activities that reduce the rates of LBW in Wales. Method The cohort (N = 693,377) was comprised of children born between...

Introduction School-based COVID-19 mitigation strategies have greatly impacted the primary school day (children aged 3–11) including: wearing face coverings, two metre distancing, no mixing of children, and no breakfast clubs or extra-curricular activities. This study examines these mitigation measures and association with COVID-19 infection, respi...

Objectives Examine if prior health-related behaviours during primary school are associated with being tested for SARS-CoV-2 and testing positive during adolescence. Design Retrospective cohort study using an online cohort survey (1 April 2014 to 28 February 2020) linked to routine PCR SARS-CoV-2 test results (1 March 2020 to 31 August 2021) Setti...

COVID-19 infection and the resultant restrictions has impacted all aspects of life across the world. This study explores factors that promote or support wellbeing for young people during the pandemic, how they differ by age, using a self-reported online survey with those aged 8–25 in Wales between September 2020 and February 2021. Open-ended respon...

School closures due to the COVID-19 global pandemic are likely to have a range of negative consequences spanning the domains of child development, education and health, in addition to the widening of inequalities and inequities. Research is required to improve understanding of the impact of school closures on the education, health and wellbeing of...

Objectives This study aimed to explore the relationship between initial school closures and children’s health by comparing health and well-being outcomes collected during school closures (April–June 2020) via HAPPEN (the Health and Attainment of Pupils in a Primary Education Network) with data from the same period in 2019 and 2018 via the HAPPEN Su...

Introduction School-based COVID-19 mitigation strategies have greatly impacted the primary school day (children aged 3-11) including: wearing face coverings, 2-metre distancing, no mixing of children, and no breakfast clubs or extra-curricular activities. This study examines these mitigation methods and association with COVID-19 infection, respirat...

COVID-19 infection and the resultant restrictions has impacted all aspects of life across the world. This study explores factors that promote or support wellbeing for young people during the pandemic, how they differ by age, using a self-reported online survey with those aged 8 - 25 in Wales between September 2020 and February 2021. Open-ended resp...

Background Better understanding of the role that children and school staff play in the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 is essential to guide policy development on controlling infection while minimising disruption to children’s education and well-being. Methods Our national e-cohort (n=464531) study used anonymised linked data for pupils, staff and asso...

Background: Better understanding of the role that children and school staff play in the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 is essential to guide policy development on controlling infection whilst minimising disruption to children's education and wellbeing. Methods: Our national e-cohort (n=500,779) study used anonymised linked data for pupils, staff and as...

Introduction In response to the COVID19 pandemic, school closures were implemented across the United Kingdom. This study aimed to explore the impact of school closures on childrens health by comparing health and wellbeing outcomes collected during school closures (April to June 2020) with data from the same period in 2019 and 2018. Methods Data wer...

School closures due to the COVID-19 global pandemic are likely to have a range of negative consequences spanning the domains of child development, education and health, in addition to the widening of inequalities and inequities. Research is required to improve understanding of the impact of school closures on the education, health and wellbeing of...

Regular physical activity (PA) during childhood is associated with a range of positive health outcomes and higher educational attainment. However, only 2.0% to 14.7% of girls and 9.5% to 34.1% of boys are meeting the current PA guidelines of 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous PA daily. Schools are targeted as a key setting to improve children’s PA...

Background Physical inactivity is the fourth leading cause of mortality worldwide. Early childhood is a critical period when healthy behaviours can be instilled for a future active lifestyle. We explored community, societal and environmental factors affecting child and family physical activity and sought parent recommendations to support physical a...

The relationship between child health, wellbeing and education demonstrates that healthier and happier children achieve higher educational attainment. An engaging curriculum that facilitates children in achieving their academic potential has strong implications for educational outcomes, future employment prospects, and health and wellbeing during a...

The relationship between child health, wellbeing and education demonstrates that healthier and happier children achieve higher educational attainment. An engaging curriculum that facilitates children in achieving their academic potential has strong implications for educational outcomes, future employment prospects and health and wellbeing during ad...

Background: Physical activity (PA) levels are associated with long term health and levels of physical activity when young are predictive of adult activity levels. Objectives: This study examines factors associated with PA levels in 12-month infants. Method: 141 mother-infant pairs were recruited via a longitudinal birth cohort study (April 2010 to...

This paper describes the contribution of the National Centre for Population Health and Wellbeing Research (NCPHWR) and Farr Institute, Swansea University to the ARCH Case for Change. NCPHWR was commissioned to help with the development of the Case for Change by utilising its expertise and assets to help 1. Define wellbeing and relevant associated m...