For parents and carers at Dixons Unity Academy

Your child is invited to MyPhone/MyBrain.

In the coming weeks, your child will take part in MyPhone/MyBrain at Dixons Unity Academy: a University of Leeds study about young people’s phones, brains and growing up. Here is what it involves, and the one thing we ask you to do online now. It takes about five minutes.

Start now → Read what it involves first

What taking part involves

A workshop at school with our researchers, for the classes taking part: young people learn how the brain works, and wear a lightweight headset that records brain activity (EEG) while they do simple computer tasks. It is safe and painless, and it cannot read thoughts.
Short questionnaires about everyday life, phones and how your child feels.
Linking, through Connected West Yorkshire, with records already held about your child (health records, and school records held by the Department for Education), using a code instead of a name and only with the approvals in place.
Only if you want to: screenshots of the phone’s screen-time summary, showing which apps are used and for how long.
We never read messages, look at photos or see what is posted.

You don’t need to do anything for your child to take part in the workshop. On the day they can say no to any part, or stop at any time, and it will not affect anything at school.

Share your child’s screen time

You answer a few questions about your child’s phone use, and say whether we can have their screen time.
You send screenshots from your own phone, if you can see their screen time there (Apple Family Sharing or Google Family Link); or your child sends them from theirs, if they want to.
Young people aged 16 or over can do this themselves.

Please do this as soon as you get this page: it takes about five minutes.

Start now →

The form already has Dixons Unity Academy filled in. Not your child’s school? You can change it in the form. Started already? Finish with your reference.

Don’t want your child to take part?

You can opt your child out of the workshop. That also means nothing about them is linked with health or school records, and none of their information is used. Opting out is by email, from a parent or carer; there is no form or paper slip. If you opt out after the workshop, we withdraw your child’s information too, as far as is still possible.

How to opt out →

Want to know more first?

Prefer paper, or need the information in another language or format? Contact the team and we will send you what works for you.

For school staff: messages to send to families

Copy one of these into your usual way of contacting families: a text, the school app, an email or the newsletter. Short and plain works best: most families will read it on a phone.

Short (a text message or the school app)

Dixons Unity Academy: your child’s class is taking part in MyPhone/MyBrain, a University of Leeds study about phones and the brain. Please fill in this short form now. It takes 5 minutes: myphonemybrain.com/dua

Longer (an email or the newsletter)

Dear parents and carers,

In the coming weeks, your child’s class will take part in MyPhone/MyBrain, a University of Leeds study about young people’s phones, brains and wellbeing. Researchers will run a workshop at school.

Please fill in a short online form as soon as you can. It takes about five minutes: myphonemybrain.com/dua

That page also explains what the study involves, and how to opt your child out if you don’t want them to take part.

Thank you,
Dixons Unity Academy

To print, or attach to an email: the information sheet for Dixons Unity Academy (PDF). Its QR code and address go to this page.

The link goes straight to this page, with Dixons Unity Academy filled in on the form. Questions: contact the team.