Wiltshire pupils to be surveyed on emotional wellbeing

The Children and Young People's Health and Wellbeing survey is used to monitor emotional trends and wellbeing

Pupils will soon be encouraged to fill in a survey designed to collect data on their emotional wellbeing needs.

The survey will ask questions about mental health, diet and drug use.

A successful survey carried out in 2021 provided useful statistics around anxiety and alcohol consumption, Wiltshire councillors were told.

Wiltshire Council public health strategist Sally Johnson said the survey will help them "monitor trends" and provide support for young people.

"We'll have information coming through on emotional wellbeing every two years," she said.

"That will enable us to monitor trends more regularly for emotional wellbeing, which I think we'd all agree, is so pertinent to every other aspect of a child's wellbeing and life."

Worried about school

The Children and Young People's Health and Wellbeing survey will be available between 19 February and 20 March.

The 2021 survey had 7,499 responses and found that 35% of secondary school children worried about attending school and 23% of Year 12 further education pupils reported getting drunk weekly or daily, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

It also showed that 28% of primary school pupils said they could not sleep due to worry, weekly or most nights.

The survey will be available for pupils to complete between 19 February and 20 March

In September 2023, schools and partners working with children, young people and families were asked to complete a questionnaire to indicate how they used the results of the 2021 survey.

The outcome of this questionnaire was discussed in the Children's Select Committee meeting on Wednesday.

It showed that the majority of school staff had found the information useful to develop pastoral support.

Monitoring wellbeing

Multiple primary schools were able to provide concrete examples of positive changes that had occurred since using the results of the survey.

These included actions such as interventions to increase activity and to introduce mindfulness strategies.

Councillors were told that, as a result of this, the benefit of gathering more regular data on the emotional wellbeing needs of children and young people had been recognised.

Follow BBC West on Facebook, X and Instagram. Send your story ideas to: [e-mail]