Wiltshire Community Safety survey report published
Thursday 8th March 2018
To better understand Wiltshire children and young people’s experiences of life, both inside and outside school we have commissioned a Children’s and Young People’s Health and Wellbeing Survey which was delivered for the first time in 2015 and again in 2017. The survey helps schools to identify areas for improvement and address particular issues raised by their own pupils and to provide evidence to influence future services provided by Wiltshire Council and their partners that improve the health and wellbeing of our young people. In 2017 the survey grew to 95 schools and nearly 10,000 pupils.
The Council's public health team prepared a number of themed reports to assist with sharing the results of the survey with partners. These cover Emotional Health, Community Safety, Risky Behaviours, Healthy lifestyles and School Engagement. These can be found here as they are published.
The Wiltshire Children and Young People’s Health and Wellbeing Survey has shown that perceptions of safety at home are generally very high among Wiltshire’s pupils. Around 90% of respondents from all three school settings (primary, secondary and Year 12/FE) reported feeling safe in their home or in the place where they live. The survey has, however, highlighted some areas for concern regarding community safety and the effects of this on pupils’ health and wellbeing.
- 64% of Year 12/FE pupils, 21% of secondary school pupils and 3% of primary school pupils reported drinking alcohol monthly or more often.
- These results represent a small increase from the 2015 survey proportions of Year 12/FE and secondary school children drinking alcohol at least monthly (58% in Year 12/FE, 19% in secondary, 3% in primary).
- 28% of Year 12/FE pupils and 7% of secondary school pupils reported having tried illegal drugs.
- In Year 12/FE, young carers and LGBT pupils were significantly more likely than the average to have tried illegal drugs (47% and 43%, respectively, compared to 28% overall).
- 6% of Year 12/FE pupils and under 2% of secondary school pupils reported taking illegal drugs weekly or more often.
- 12% of Year 12/FE pupils and 11% of secondary school pupils reported having tried the recreational use of prescription drugs (“pharming”).
- 24% of young carers in Year 12/FE had tried pharming.
- While around 90% of respondents from all school settings reported feeling safe or very safe in their home or place of residence, perceptions of safety at school were lower, particularly among secondary school respondents (69% felt safe or very safe at school; 11% felt unsafe or very unsafe).
- Less than half (47%) of secondary school LGBT respondents felt safe or very safe at school, and a quarter (24%) felt unsafe or very unsafe.
- Feelings of being safe from crime generally improved with the school setting, with two thirds of Year 12/FE respondents feeling safe from crime, compared to only a half of the primary school respondents.
- Females in all school settings were more likely than males to report feeling unsafe or very unsafe from crime.
- 5% of Year 12/FE and secondary school respondents, and 3% of primary school respondents reported that they had been in serious trouble with the police.
- Males were more likely than females, in all school settings, to report this.
- 8% of Year 12/FE and 12% of secondary school respondents had felt that they needed to carry a weapon.
- Males were more likely than females to report this, with 16% of male secondary school respondents having felt that they needed to carry a weapon.
- 88% of secondary school respondents and 92% of Year 12/FE respondents reported that they had never felt that they needed to join a gang.
- This represents a decrease on those reporting the same in 2015 (94% secondary, 95% Year 12/FE).
- 82% of secondary school and 78% of Year 12/FE pupils reported that they or someone in their immediate family had never been a victim of domestic abuse or violence.
- In Year 12/FE, 46% of young carers and half of the children with a social worker reported that they or someone in their immediate family had suffered domestic abuse, compared to 22% of the overall Year 12/FE sample.
- 92% of secondary and 86% of Year 12/FE pupils reported that they had never been a victim of abuse from a boyfriend or girlfriend.
- In both the secondary and the Year 12/FE settings, LGBT respondents, those with a social worker, young carers and respondents with special educational needs and/or disabilities were significantly more likely than the overall Wiltshire rate to report having experienced abuse from a boyfriend/girlfriend.
- 36% of secondary school respondents and 44% of Year 12/FE respondents had been involved in sending or receiving pictures or messages of a sexual nature online.
- One in five Year 12/FE females reported having shared sexualised pictures of themselves online.
