Our school, along with several others in Gateshead, has agreed to participate in a very important Health Related Behaviour Questionnaire for our children and young people.
We have been asked to support the work of the Local Authority and Public Health and we will benefit from our participation in the survey by using the response to:
Help us decide upon priority areas of development for the next 2 years.
Be a starting point for discussion in staff, governor, and parent meetings, as well as in classroom activities.
Help us look to strengthen existing programmes.
Help to evaluate our PSHE and pastoral work.
The survey method that we are using has been developed by the Schools Health Education Unit, Exeter and has been in use now for over 40 years. Over 3000 schools have used the survey, many of them regularly repeating the survey.
The questions concern a wide range of health behaviours, for example:
Personal background Drugs (vaping, alcohol, other)
Leisure and money Food and diet
Exercise Safety in person and online
Relationships Sexual health (Year 10 only)
The data collected from the questionnaire is completely anonymous; no student will be able to be identified at any point in the process.
The information collated from the questionnaires will provide Gateshead Council with valuable data about the lives of children in Gateshead, which will be used to inform the development and delivery of Council provided and commissioned services. Both the Local Authority and the school find the content of the questionnaire acceptable and appropriate; it has been customised to suit our local setting.
Each questionnaire is anonymous and confidential, and no pupil will be identified when the data is returned to the school. The Local Authority will receive an overarching report covering all schools in Gateshead. Data Protection concerns are covered in the Privacy Notice for pupils, which can be found on the link.
I hope you will agree with us that this is an exercise in which we wish to co-operate fully. There is currently no evidence-base that has data collected directly from our children and young people to help us use their voice in the work we do in Gateshead.
I will assume you do approve unless I hear otherwise. We hold a copy of the questionnaire in the school office, and if you would like to examine it, you are welcome to please email Miss Jones: [email protected]
As part of the survey, it will be helpful if your child knows their partial postcode:
NE / DH _ _ _ (For example, NE3 4 or NE11 6)
The survey will be carried out between 10th to 31st March.