Year 6 questionnaire

[Invisablewoman]

Hello, I'm being asked to give permission for my year 6 child to answer an online questionnaire at school with assistance from the school nurse. This is aimed at assessing their well being/emotional health etc.

I've asked to see the questions before giving permission but have been told I can't.

I don't want him exposed to questions that might relate to 'gender identity' or that approach the issue of sex and gender without me being their to temper any explanation of those terms.

Does anyone have experience of this questionnaire and what it asks please?

I should also say that the letter from school provides a link to various websites about young people's mental health - one of which directs children and parents to Stonewall.

I would refuse consent to anything I haven’t seen.

My children are happy, well adjusted, sporty and fed nutritious food. I don’t have any concerns. We have been involved with pastoral care following a death in the family (DCs distraught, crying in school). We involved pastoral care when our bereavement was imminent and worked through it. We trust the school to a certain extent.

But I would never let my children sit through this. I have seen enough bad information/questions about gender identity, drugs and sex and I need to prioritise my children’s wellbeing above some children I don’t know who may benefit from these surveys.

It is a massive shame. General happiness levels and whether the children are fed properly or not is so important and vulnerable children will suffer if this isn’t picked up.

TBH, your response here sounds like you’re trying to hide something. I’m sure you’re not - but can’t you appreciate that many children DO have lives that are challenging and have no way of communicating that to others in order to get help.
We are a pretty wholesome household, nothing to hide but the fact that you think being critical about highly personal and quite sensitive health and questions in a setting that does not provide support means we have something to hide is quite controlling and a unreflective. The questions do not have individual children's best interest in mind and (I work in the field) and are often not very well designed. Most councils will use a third party to create the survey and you'd want to know who is actually accessing all the data including post codes, name of school etc.

Tackling these health related issues in supportive PSHE lessons is the right way to introduce children to this not some faceless bureaucratic online survey. I can never understand the lack of critical thinking in regards to these surveys.

@Soontobe60
TBH, your response here sounds like you’re trying to hide something. I’m sure you’re not - but can’t you appreciate that many children DO have lives that are challenging and have no way of communicating that to others in order to get help.
At 11 years old, they deserve a voice. This questionnaire may well be the only way they can be heard. And yes, at that age they DO know about alcohol, drugs, sex, bullying, DV etc because they’re taught about it in school.

How does PhonPhonPhon's post sound like she's trying to hide something? And why would you be sure wasn't if you thought she sounded like she is?

This is a FUD tactic - trying to persuade people that not immediately agreeing to surveillance is a sign of being guilty.

If, as PhonPhonPhon says, it's a population survey it doesn't give children a voice that will lead to them getting any help. It may lead to action that will help future generations of children, but it may also leave a record that could be exploited to the child's detriment in the future.

I wouldn't answer a questionnaire with those sorts of questions if it was sent out by my GP to all patients unless I had satisfactory answers to questions about how the data was stored, who would see it, what it would be used for and how anonymous it was. So I wouldn't let my child answer it without knowing that (and I'd have a significantly higher threshold to agree to my child answering than I'd have for myself).

If it's the questionnaire in the Whatdotheyknow.com FOI request you linked to, OP, I would be saying "No" simply because they collect the child's mobile phone number. I can't think why anyone would think that was appropriate and that makes me wonder about the entire set up.

I'd also be concerned about the cluster of questions on weight, which I don't think should be asked unless there is already reason to be concerned about attitudes to weight as otherwise their existence just adds to social pressure.

I would be curious to know how effective asking year 6 kids questions like "Do you have any worries or concerns about alcohol use?" is. I don't object to a question about alcohol (or drugs or smoking or solvents - all covered similarly) and I don't think that one is worded in a way that might be problematic. But it doesn't sound to me like a particularly effective way to get 11 year olds to tell you about problems with alcohol, etc.

I'd probably be OK with it (other than bits mentioned) if GP wanted to do it. But I don't think the council or the school have the same concern for my DCs' individual best interests.