Overview
Support and written guidance for each step of the process is available from our expert team, from addressing queries about the consent process and data transfer, to implementing the Wellbeing Measurement for Schools survey with your pupils and / or staff, to understanding and using your Wellbeing Measurement for Schools survey report.
Please remember that the pupil survey is for the purposes of understanding the mental wellbeing of the whole year group. Even where questionnaire responses indicate that individual children have scores that may raise concern, relevant staff cannot be made aware of individual pupil responses. Please ensure staff are appropriately informed and consider any implications in line with local safeguarding procedures. It is important that all pupils are aware of this and understand how to share concerns and access support if they need to.
The steps for the Staff and Pupil survey in detail:
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Steps for Schools - Staff Survey
1. Register online
Register and select the staff survey option, indicate your preferred 'Registration, Survey and Reporting Timings' and the 'Type of Staff Survey' (primary, secondary, all-through).
2. Receive link to survey
Staff will complete the survey online. This can be on a computer or other devices that may be available such as tablets.
We recommend that you test the survey link before distribution.
Please ensure that the website hosting the survey is not blocked by your network or devices, and that there won't be an issue with a large number of staff simultaneously accessing the link. You might want to add the survey link (https://redcap.idhs.ucl.ac.uk/surveys/) to your school’s ‘white list’.
If it is appropriate to do so, you may wish to make it available either as a shortcut on the staffs’ desktops or as a link on a school’s intranet.
3. Email all staff
The main school contact will be emailed with the survey link along with relevant details and links to useful documents, and our Finance Team will send an invoice.
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Inform staff of survey (including internal messages to promote participation).
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Provide link to survey
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Provide information sheet
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Set a deadline
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Send reminders with link to staff survey
4. Receive bespoke feedback for your school
Your Wellbeing Measurement for Schools Staff Report will be sent to the main school contact as per the schedule indicated at registration. (The staff report will compare your school's data with aggregated data from other schools nationally.)
Please remember that the survey is for the purposes of understanding the mental wellbeing of all participating staff. Even where questionnaire responses indicate that individual staff members have scores that may raise concern, relevant senior school members cannot be made aware of individual responses. Please ensure staff are appropriately informed. It is important that all staff are aware of this and understand how to share concerns and access support if they need to.
Your school will be invited to attend the online 'Understanding and Using Your Staff Report' webinar to help you better understand the survey results and consider how they might best be used.
Documents for surveying school staff:
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1. Register online - Pupil Survey
1.1 Complete the online registration form (available via the 'Register here' button below), sign and return the School Agreement (only required for the pupil survey), and make payment.
You will also need to download, sign and return the School Agreement to commit to your school's participation. This document includes information regarding the GDPR compliant data sharing arrangements. The School Agreement needs to be signed by someone in the school with appropriate authority (such as the Head Teacher, Deputy Head Teacher or equivalent). The School Agreement link will be available after the registration form is submitted and is only required for those schools running the pupil survey.
An invoice will be sent to the main school contact (as provided on the registration form).
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2. Inform parents (opt-out consent) - Pupil Survey
2.1 This project uses an opt-out model of consent from parents and carers.
Your school must email or distribute hard copies of the Parent Information Sheet (see link below) to all parents and carers of the pupils in the participating year group(s). Before sending out the Parent Information Sheet, please read through and add the following information where indicated:
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Opt-out deadline – please give at least three weeks from when you distribute the Parent Information Sheet
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How parents who do not want their child to take part can respond (see options below)
After reading the Parent Information Sheet, parents and carers who are happy for their child to take part in the survey do not need to do anything.
Your school must make available at least one of the following options to receive responses from parents and carers who do not want their child to take part:
Option A - Secure school parent portal: Parents should respond indicating agreement with the statement: “I do not want my child to take part in the Wellbeing Measurement for Schools survey”. The response must be from an approved parental account.
Option B - Hard copy/email response: Parents may print and sign a hard copy of the opt-out form (included at the end of the Parent Information Sheet) and return this to the school, or respond by email, clearly indicating that they do not want their child to take part (sent from an email address the school holds on record as being that of the parent).
Option C - SMS: Send parents an SMS message that reads: ‘Please review details of the Wellbeing Measurement for Schools survey (link to the school web address with Parent Information Sheet). If you are happy for your child to take part in the survey you do not need to do anything. If you do not want your child to take part please text back NO.’
Please retain records of opt-outs for at least 18 months after the completion of the survey.
Documents for the opt-out consent process:
A privacy notice which informs parents about the steps we take as part of this research, including how we collect, analyse, make sense of, and present information (i.e. the processing of their child’s data) is available. It also makes clear to them their rights (and those of their child) in relation to this, including their right to remove their child from this research. This privacy notice is a requirement of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
Parents of all pupils who are taking part in the survey need to be sent this privacy notice via whatever communication channels you would normally use. We recommend that you send this out to parents of all pupils.
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3. Prepare for survey implementation - Pupil Survey
Please look ahead to our survey implementation recommendations below. Arrangements for this will be specific to your school, but in our experience, it is helpful to consider this as early as possible.
3.1 Timetabling/booking IT suites
We suggest schools plan implementation of the survey in advance as various arrangements might be required, e.g. scheduling the survey period into the school’s calendar, booking IT suites or library computers.
Our experience suggests that survey completion will take a whole lesson. This includes time to introduce and explain the survey to the pupils, to answer any questions, and to get pupils set up on computers.
We suggest booking at least one additional lesson slot, to include any pupils that might miss their intended slot due to school absence.
3.2 IT preparation
Pupils will complete the survey online. This can be on a computer or other devices that may be available such as tablets.
We recommend that you test the survey link before distribution.
Please ensure that the website hosting the survey is not blocked by your network or devices, and that there won't be an issue with a large number of pupils simultaneously accessing the link. You might want to add the survey link (https://redcap.idhs.ucl.ac.uk/surveys/) to your school’s ‘white list’.
If it is appropriate to do so, you may wish to make it available either as a shortcut on the pupils' desktops or as a link on the school’s intranet.
3.3 Deciding how to distribute survey access codes
We recommend thinking ahead of time about how you are going to hand out the pupil survey access codes in the survey session - some prefer to print out the access codes and give them out to pupils on a piece of paper or sticker (if you choose this option, print out a master list for the survey session as well).
Make sure that the survey access codes have been downloaded and are ordered in a helpful way (e.g. by year group, class name).
Please note that if you would like to receive the access codes ordered by class name, the class for each pupil will need to have been included in the data template.
3.4 Teacher preparation
Please ensure those administering the survey have read and have print-outs of relevant information, including the crib sheet.
Teachers may find it helpful to plan activities for those children who will not be completing the survey during this session, and for those who may complete the survey early in the allotted class/session.
We are aware that because of particular needs, some children may need extended time to complete the survey and suggest arrangements are made in advance for this to happen.
Documents for the preparation of the survey with your pupils:
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4. Share pupil information with us - Pupil Survey
Enter pupil data and school information into the template and upload to the data transfer portal.
Use the template (available from the link below) to provide the data required for your pupils to participate in the online survey. There are four steps:
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Complete the Pupil Data Sheet
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Complete the School Data Sheet
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Sign the statement of conformity with the opt-out consent process
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Prepare for upload by specifying your school's Data Contact and following the guidance to register for the UCL Data Transfer Portal
All four steps need to be completed before the WMfS Data Template can be uploaded. The status indicators will tell you what needs to be completed and when the template is ready to be uploaded to the UCL Data Transfer Portal.
The Data Template contains instructions for entering pupil data, entering school information, signing the statement of conformity with the opt-out consent process and uploading the completed template to the data transfer portal.
Please ensure data has been entered correctly in the Data Template. When the Data Template is uploaded it must not include pupils for whom parent and carer opt-out has been received by your school.
The Data Template includes all necessary instructions to support you in completing it correctly and how to share the information with us.
(this document is only accessible to participating schools who will be sent the password via email)
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5. Access unique survey access codes - Pupil Survey
The research team will send the data contact a list of survey access codes for the pupils participating in the survey. The data contact will need to phone us within ten calendar days of the email being sent on 020 7443 2225 to get a time sensitive password that is valid for ten days only to download the file. This is not going to affect your actual survey window during which you are going to survey pupils, which starts from the moment you receive your survey access codes until the end of the chosen survey term.
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6. Complete the online survey - Pupil Survey
Pupils should complete the online survey in class under the supervision of an appropriate member of staff.
You can download the Guidance for schools introducing pupil survey with some key messages for staff to use in introducing the survey and to help deal with any questions. Resources are provided to support staff. It is important to reiterate to pupils that staff will not see individual children’s responses, and to remind them how they can access support with mental health and emotional wellbeing in the school setting.
Please remember that the survey is for the purposes of understanding the mental wellbeing of the whole year group. Even where questionnaire responses indicate that individual children have scores that may raise concern, relevant staff cannot be made aware of individual pupil responses. Please ensure staff are appropriately informed and consider any implications in line with local safeguarding procedures. It is important that all pupils are aware of this and understand how to share concerns and access support if they need to.
Pupils need to do the following to access the survey:
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Go to https://redcap.idhs.ucl.ac.uk/surveys/ (please note this link must be used exactly, including the forward slash at the end)
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Enter their unique access code (e.g. AB3DE6GHI)
The survey needs to be completed in one sitting. It takes pupils approximately 15 to 20 minutes.
Pupils should not be able to access each other’s unique access codes. Please also try to avoid them reading another pupil’s responses.
Should you need any technical assistance please contact the research team at measuringwellbeing@annafreud.org
Documents for surveying pupils:
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7. Receive bespoke feedback for your school - Pupil Survey
Your Wellbeing Measurement for Schools pupil survey report will be sent to the main school contact as per the schedule indicated at registration.
This report will compare your school’s data with aggregated data from other schools nationally.
Please note: In order to preserve anonymity, we are not able to provide feedback for a school where there are fewer than ten completed pupil questionnaires per year group.
When registering, you will need to indicate when your school would like to receive their Wellbeing Measurement for Schools Pupil Report:
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To receive your pupil report by the end of November 2023 you must register by 15th September 2023 for surveys to be completed by the end of October 2023
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To receive your pupil report by the end of January 2024 you must register by 1st November 2023 for surveys to be completed by the end of December 2023
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To receive your pupil report by the end of March 2024 you must register by 10th January 2024 for surveys to be completed by the end of February 2024
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To receive your pupil report by the end of April 2024 you must register by 15th February 2024 for surveys to be completed by the end of March 2024
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To receive your pupil report by the end of June 2024 you must register by 15th April 2024 for surveys to be completed by the end of May 2024
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To receive your pupil report by the end of August 2024 you must register by register by 10th June for surveys to be completed by the end of July
Your report will only include data from surveys completed within the timeframe indicated above.
Your school will be invited to attend the online 'Understanding and Using Your Pupil Report' webinar to help you better understand the survey results and consider how they might best be used.
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Documents and Templates - Pupil and Staff Survey
- Parent Information Sheet and Privacy Notice (years 10 and 11)
- Parent Information Sheet and Privacy Notice (years 5 - 9)
- Screenshot of WMfS Data Template
- Password-protected WMfS Data Template (password is provided to participating schools)
- Guidance for schools introducing pupil survey
- Pupil Survey Guidelines for Pupils
- Pupil Survey Guidelines for School Staff
- Information Sheet for pupils
- Case study - How to get a good response rate
- Example of Wellbeing Measurement Report
- Example of Pupil Survey
- Staff Survey Information Sheet