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What we are up to
OxWell School Survey 2023
The 2023 OxWell Student Survey is about to go live and will run until Easter. There is still time for Local Authorities to sign up for this comprehensive research into the mental health and well-being of children and young people in their area.
- If you represent a local authority in England and are interested in being involved in the survey and of the costs involved, please contact: pathfinder@psych.ox.ac.uk.
- For more information on the background to the OxWell project go to the Psychology Department School Mental Health page.
- For information on OxWell School Survey 2020 content see here.
- For a description of how the LodeSeeker® data tool for schools works see here.
GSCP Safeguarding Children (Section 175 / 157) Audit 2022/23
The Gloucestershire Children Safeguarding Partnership Audit for Schools and Early Years Settings (including Nuseries and Childminders is now live for this Academic Year.
Feedback on ease of completion of the Audit is overwhelmingly positive. The Audit does not ask for a record of evidence to be uploaded or described, but affirmative responses must be evidenced within the setting and be ready for examination during inspection. This streamlines the process considerably and gives each setting a comprehensive checklist with which to work.
There are 3 separate versions of the Audit, written specifically for the different requirements for schools, nurseries and childminders. Each version can be separately administered so that the Audit can be live for different Settings at different times or if only required for specific Settings.
See details of the Audit here. Contact us if you are interested in knowing more.
Online Pupil Surveys
The OxWell Survey content is fixed by the University of Oxford Psychology researchers and the Data Controller is the University of Oxford. This means that customisation of your own survey is not possible. If you prefer more control over the content of your survey, you can commission us directly and we will work with you to produce your own Children and Young People's Online Survey (OPS) or other types of survey or audit (see examples, such as the Year 6 Transition Survey and Section 175 / 157 Safeguarding Audit). We also offer a short (5-10 minute) 'CONNECT' survey run in September as a snapshot of attitudes to school, anxiety and mental health before the full OPS the following year.
South Gloucestershire Online Pupil Survey 2023
The South Gloucestershire OPS is now live and will be open until Easter
The previous survey run in 2021 gave us over 8000 response and a Summary Report is available on the South Gloucestershire Council Public health and wellbeing website.
Once you have your own data, this link to the Youth Health Data site should be of interest to compare your results to other sources.
Year 6 Transition Survey
South Gloucestershire Local Authority commissioned Foster and Brown Research Ltd that operate the very successful Online Pupil Survey (OPS) to develop a pupil-focused questionnaire for Year 6 students with a focus on transition that gives them a voice around their own education, health and well-being.
The survey was completed by the students and gave Secondary Schools a clear sense of Pupil Voice from the pupils themselves which then supported the transition process. This transition survey is available to any Local Authority that wishes to ease the transition of their Year 6 pupils into Secondary school.
If you are interested in this survey, please contact us to discuss.
OPS helping to understand self-harm
Gloucestershire OPS results were used as part of a study investigating the incidence of suicide and self-harm in adolescents in England - published in The Lancet 12th December 2017 - Incidence of suicide, hospital-presenting non-fatal self-harm, and community-occurring non-fatal self-harm in adolescents in England (the iceberg model of self-harm): a retrospective study Guelayov G, Casey D, McDonald K.C, Foster P, Pritchard K, Wells C, Clements C, Kapur N, Ness J, Waters K, Hawton K
More from the Oxford researchers - a new guide for parents coping with their children self-harming - you are not alone
Also developed by the researchers at the University of Oxford there is a guide for School staff: Young people who self harm: A guide for school staff
More publications:
- Self-Harm, Suicidal Behaviours, and Cyberbullying in Children and Young People:Systematic Review
- A systematic review of the relationship between internet use, self-harm and suicidal behaviou in young people: the good, the bad and the unknown.
- Preventing suicide in England: Fourth progress report of the cross-government outcomes strategy to save lives.
Interesting stuff
The Oxford Wellbeing School Surveys - Publications
During the first lockdown in Spring 2020, University of Oxford Psychology researchers commissioned us to create an Online Pupil Survey (OPS) for pupils in lockdown. This measured the wellbeing (health and happiness) of children and young people and asked questions about life-style and school life. It was offered to pupils from yeargroups 4 up to 13 as part of schoolwork tasks supplied by their school.
Originally planned to cover Oxfordshire, the scope of this survey was expanded to include schools in more counties in the South West (South Gloucestershire and Wiltshire) and the South East (Berkshire and Buckinghamshire). The Survey gave us over 19,000 responses.
The research group is interested in understanding how best to support the mental health of children attending school and has funding to carry out more surveys in the future. In order to easily distinguish these surveys from our own custom-made Online Pupil Surveys (OPS), they have been branded the OxWell School Surveys.
Given the Covid situation, we ran the 2021 survey during the months of May through to the end of term (rather than the usual February to April). Despite Covid interruptions, the survey gave us over 30,000 responses from 4 counties: Oxfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Liverpool.
There have been, and continue to be, many publications written by members of the University of Oxford Department of Psychiatry using the data collected in these surveys. These can be accessed by visiting the OxWell Study & School Mental Health page on the Department of Psychiatry website.
For more information on the background to the OxWell project go to the Department of Psychiatry School Mental Health page. The Survey conforms to strict rules governing ethics and personal data (GDPR). You can read approved information for parents here .
We work closely with schools, local authorities and mental health services to deliver the survey and then provide school reports, access to aggregated data via our LodeSeeker® data tool and further analysis both from Foster and Brown and the University of Oxford Psychology department researchers.
The project has received funding and support from the Oxford Health NIHR Biomedical Research Centre, the Oxford and Thames Valley NIHR ARC, the MRC Mental Health Data Pathfinder (Oxford) and the Westminster Foundation. Gloucestershire NHS Clinical Commissioning Group supported the extension of the 2020 survey to Gloucestershire schools.
- If you represent a local authority in England and are interested in being involved in future surveys and of the costs involved, please contact: pathfinder@psych.ox.ac.uk.
- For more information on the background to the OxWell project go to the Psychology Department School Mental Health page.
- For information on OxWell School Survey 2020 content see here.
- For a description of how the LodeSeeker® data tool for schools works see here.
Foster & Brown Research deliver online surveys and reporting as a managed package, helping to take you through the process of gathering vital information and using our software and expertise to help you target areas of need as efficiently as possible.
We can help with:
- getting your questions right
- designing the look and feel of your surveys
- managing your distribution list and monitoring response rate through our Monitor software
- reporting your results through our LodeSeeker® data tool
- analysing your results using our expertise and helping you identify targets and trends
Contact Us
on 01285 700759 or email to discuss your requirements or ask any questions you may have. We are very happy to talk through what we are achieving with our Local Authority partners.Online Pupil Survey
Foster & Brown Research are working with Local Authorities to offer the Online Pupil Survey/Pupil Health and Lifestyle Survey to ALL the schools in their area providing a powerful Pupil Voice telling us about the lives, daily habits, fears and aspirations of thousands of children and young people - information that helps schools, local authorities, health professionals and many other organisations concerned with the wellbeing of young people to plan effectively and efficiently.
FAB is a mindful employer
We have signed the Charter for Employers who are positive about mental health.
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