Information and Opt out Options
Dear Parent / Carer:
This is a letter to tell you about a national online Health and Wellbeing (HWB) census involving primary 5 (P5) to secondary 6 (S6) pupils’ throughout Scotland. The Census will be carried out in school time and wants to hear from all pupils to help drive continuing improvements in educational outcomes for children.
This information will be shared with the Scottish Government (SG) to assist them in planning and implementing national policies and to target resources better. East Ayrshire Council will gather, process and analyse the HWB Census data for statistical and research purposes only.
What does the Census ask?
The Census questionnaires are designed to be stage appropriate, and will ask pupils about a range of topics, such as:-
- School – how you feel and how you are treated by people
- How active you are and when you go to bed
- Eating and Drinking
- Electronic devices and the internet
- Your friends
- Bullying
- People you live with and your family
- Smoking, drinking and drugs (S2 – S6 only)
- Your life, your experiences and how you feel about things
- Sexual health (S4 – S6 only)
- Where you live and your life at school
At the beginning and end of the questionnaire pupils will be informed that if any of the Census questions have made them think of any problems then they should speak to their parents / carers / teacher / support worker.
Although individual pupils complete the Census, the questions in the Census are not validated for individual diagnosis, reports or the assessment of children / young people.
How will the information be kept confidential?
Pupil responses to the Census questions will remain confidential to protect all pupils, and access to any child identifiers would be severely restricted to those on a strict need to know basis. Any additional information that would directly identify a pupil, such as the pupil’s name and address, are kept separate from the data generated by the responses given in the Census. Schools will be provided with school, authority and national level results based on grouping together pupil responses.
The individual pupil data which will be shared with the SG, for statistical and research purposes only, will include a child identifier (but not a child’s name or address).
Is the Census compulsory?
The Census is not compulsory. The opt-out options are outlined below:-
- Parent / Carer (of children up to the age of 16) – If you do not want your child to complete the census contact the school office by MONDAY 15TH NOVEMBER 2021.
- Pupils – Pupils will be asked if they would like to take part. Even if pupils begin the Census, they do not have to finish it if they wish to stop at any time. They are then able to request (if desired) that their answers up to that point are not included in the final dataset.
To access additional information about the Census and to view the Privacy Statement please visit the link below:-
https://www.east-ayrshire.gov.uk/pupilcensuses
