Agenda item

Lorna Quinn, Public Health intelligence, to present

Lorna Quinn, Public Health Intelligence Manager presented the results of the Rotherham School Lifestyle Survey, with the aid of the following PowerPoint presentation:

Background and Deliverables-

•         Rotherham context.

•         Optional questions and order.

•         Deliverables.

•         Borough wide report (non-identifiable, public facing).

•         School specific reports.

•         Dashboard for targeted work.

Participation and Demographic-

•         15 of 16 schools participated.

•         4,919 students in total: 2,754 Year 7 students and 2,165 Year 10 - 66.6% participation (65% last year).

•         72% White British, 8% Pakistani, 3% ‘Other White Background’.

•         193 children stated they live in a Children’s Residential Home or with Foster Carers (3.9%).

Food and Drink Consumption-

•         588 students (13%) rated their diet as poor (1 or 2 out of 5) and the majority felt that their diet was OK.

•         1,195 students (26.4%) did not have breakfast.

•         This was increasing but remained similar to last year.

•         2,694 students (59.5%) drank at least one high-sugar fizzy drink per day. This remained similar to previous levels.

•         1,797 students (39.7%) drank at least one high energy drink per week (red bull, monster etc), this was a slight increase.

Physical Health-

•         77.5% of respondents rated their physical health as excellent or good, 18.6% as fair, and 3.9% as poor.

?    21% reported a long-term illness, medical condition or disability. This had shown no overall trend since 2017.

?    Asthma and Autism were the two most prevalent self-reported conditions: 4.4% and 3.2% respectively.

?    Young people had a good understanding of where to access support including for sexual health advice; support from school nurses, and family and friends were recognised most frequently.

•         64 respondents smoked on a regular basis and 161 respondents vaped on a regular basis.

?    There was no trend in smoking data: 0.6% and 3.3% of respondents smoked on a regular basis (Y7 and Y10).

?    There had been a positive increase in those who did not think it was ok to smoke.

?    78% of Y7 and 47% of Y10 had never tried an alcoholic drink, this was similar to previous years.

?    87% of respondents had never tried drugs or substances and of those that had consumed in the previous month, data remained similar to previous years.

Mental Health Impacts-

•         Mental health ratings decreased in 2022 and increased this year. However, proportions rating mental health as poor remained higher than in 2019.

•         When asked about the change in their mental health over the last 2 years, 33.4% of respondents reported an improvement in mental health, 35.9% reported their mental health staying the same, and 30.7% reported it being worse or much worse since the pandemic.

•         1.3% of total respondents self-reported diagnosed mental health issues.

•         26.2% of students felt they were not the right size for their age and height and 45.8% felt there was a lot of pressure to have the perfect body image from social media.

•         72.7% of students had been bullied in the last 6 months.

•         16.6% of students had experienced hate crime.

•         21.9% of respondents, 854 people, had used, or created a gambling account and 446 respondents stated they had a problem with spending money on gambling or games.

The Voice of the Child-

•         35.6% felt their view and voice was listened to and taken seriously, 25.0%, felt their views were not listened to and taken seriously, and 39.4%, were unsure.

•         24.7% felt their views were acted upon, 31.3%, felt it was not acted upon, and 44%, were unsure.

Next Steps-

•         Partner consultation to determine the following:

•         How to use the School Survey.

•         What would enable partners to use the survey better.

•         Whether partners had any perceived gaps or improvements for the next iteration of the survey.

•         A review of questions, including a review of response rates.

•         Public Health and CYPS would collaborate for the 2024 survey.

Discussion ensued on the presentation with the following issues raised/clarified:

•         The Rotherham School Lifestyle Survey was completed annually and was locally defined so there could be additions to the survey if required.

•         Bullying was a challenge within the Borough and there were clear expectations for schools to have effective programmes and policies in place. There was an Education Safeguarding Officer that worked with schools to ensure their programmes and policies were effective.

•         During Safeguarding Awareness Week 2023, sessions were held on online bullying and the impact of social media.

•         There was an Education Delivery Group that had a focus on bullying, the group reported to the Safeguarding Partnership.

•         Work would be completed with the Childrens and Young People’s Partnership Board to ensure that there was a comprehensive understanding of what it was like to live in a digital world.

Resolved:- That the Health and Wellbeing Board:

1)    Note the update provided.