Pupil Lifestyle Survey

Since 2015,Doncaster Council has conducted the Pupil Lifestyle Survey, which has provided valuable data on children and young people’s health-related behaviour, through an anonymous school-based questionnaire. From the 2018/19 academic year the survey has been completed annually.

The data from this survey has provided a set of Doncaster-wide figures at key points in children and young people’s development; KS2, 3 and 4. The results have allowed us to more effectively target work with children and young people, and provide an agenda for action into the future.

Content of the Pupil Lifestyle Survey

A standard online, anonymised questionnaire covering key themes including;

Physical activity
Nutrition and oral health
Keeping safe
Emotional health and well-being
Risk taking behaviours

What does it involve?

For primary schools, the survey involves Year 4 pupils, with the option of also including Year 6 pupils. For secondary schools, the survey involves Year 8 pupils, with the option of also including Year 10 pupils.

What do the results look like?

Each school will receive an individualised report detailing their results including comparable data with the rest of Doncaster.

Doncaster Council will receive an overall report for all pupils taking part and an additional report by locality. Results from the survey will contribute towards the Doncaster Children and Young People’s Plan 2017-2020 and other strategic plans.

What do schools think?

Here is some feedback from schools who have taken part in the Pupil Lifestyle Survey;

Secondary Schools

Sir Thomas Wharton Academy :

"Positives – our students seem far better informed of the resources and advice available around sexual health – even taking in to account Y10s who have had less Life Skills than Y8 have.

Smoking was a real concern (very significant difference) compared to other schools in Doncaster in the last survey and I know we adjusted Life Skills and our whole school sanctions to reflect this.

These results are better.

The message about post-16 seems to be filtering through with more of our students expecting to stay on in education.

Challenges:

School based stress levels/resilience.

CEOP button ignorance?

Sexting – there is still a culture that it is OK to share sexting images among friends!"

Don Valley Academy : "I've been looking at the report in relation to our schemes of work and our taught content in the Life lessons the students have. We are happy to participate again next year and I will be looking to do further analysis over the summer to ensure that we are hitting the majority of the issues raised."

Astrea Academy Woodfields: "The findings have proven extremely useful in highlighting to colleagues in school the areas of our work where we have made a positive impact and indeed those that we need to focus on in the next academic year."

Primary Schools

Copley Junior School : "Just to say that we were delighted with the quality of data that resulted from our participation in the Pupil Lifestyle Survey Report. We greatly appreciate our involvement and very much want to be part of the initiative when it next runs."

LongToft : "We found it very enlightening and useful as part of our evidence base for our school context."

Carr Lodge : "I have had a brief look through to highlight an areas I feel we need to focus on within school to meet the needs of our children and there have been a few areas that we can take forward.

This is the first time I have been involved in this survey and so very interested in taking part again particularly to see if we have made progress with some of the areas where we want to improve."

Bentley High Street : "Thank you for including us in the project, the reports are really informative and as the SMSC lead this will help me immensely shaping our school curriculum for next year."

St Joseph’s School a Catholic Voluntary Academy : "We are going to use the findings to inform our new curriculum, especially the PSHE elements."

Sandringham Primary : "We find the information valuable to be able to analyse children's health and lifestyle choices."

2022/23 Results

Doncaster Primary Schools Report:

Primary Pupil Lifestyle Survey Report 2023: Download (2.65MB - PPTX)