8th June 2022
Over 400 parents/carers took part in our survey on health and wellbeing in schools. The survey asked about whether support was available for children and their families' health and wellbeing, for children's mental health, whether schools were signposting families to other help and support, whether parents were involved in COVID recovery planning and also whether schools involve parents and carers in their child's health and wellbeing education in schools. Read the full report here.
Findings are really revealing: parents and carers (79%) understand and share the values promoted by schools (being kind, caring for others) but this is not consistently translated into caring for and supporting our children and young people. The vast majority of parents believe that schools should involve parents in their child's health and wellbeing education and that this is really important. The widely-reported failure to provide mental health care for our children is confirmed by our survey as 33% of respondents said their child's mental health was not well supported. 29% said their child's general health and wellbeing was not well supported. Other key findings are:
- 67% were not involved in COVID-9 recovery planning (which often focused on health and wellbeing)
- 85% said they knew who to speak to about a worry or concern
- 79% said they felt comfortable and confident in doing so
- 70% said school/nursery staff made themselves available to parents to speak to
- 86% agreed or strongly agreed about the importance of involving parents in school health and wellbeing education.