Children hiding signs of distress from school

More than 55,000 Welsh children* as young as 5 are hiding signs of distress from their teachers, according to a new report that reveals how parents perceive their children’s mental health.

Responses from 766 Welsh parents by Compass MIS (a school management information system) shows that a third (35 per cent) think their children’s mental health is fair or poor. Almost twice that proportion – 68 per cent – are concerned about it.

The findings also suggest a gulf between boys’ and girls’ mental health. Parents think that 28 per cent of their girls have worse mental health than last year, compared with 19% of their boys.

Almost two thirds of children (64 per cent) try to hide their mental health problems, with more than half (54 per cent) going to ‘great lengths’ to hide their feelings of unhappiness from others.

Girls in Wales are 15 per cent more likely to try and hide their feelings, say the parents surveyed.

The report also revealed that a quarter (26 per cent) of Welsh parents say that their children struggle with feelings of anxiety every two to three days, while for 12 per cent it is a constant and daily struggle. Two in five girls (40 per cent) have to regularly deal with their worries compared to a third (35 per cent) of boys, according to the parents who took part in the study which is published today.

Compared with last year, 15% of children in Wales are less trusting of others. Fourteen per cent are less able to deal with feelings of unhealthy perfectionism. And one in 10 (9 per cent) are less able to choose an appropriate response to life challenges.

The Compass study showed that parents say that the main causes of anxiety among their children are peer pressure (34 per cent), social media ( 30 per cent), hormonal / physical changes 28 per cent), not sleeping well (22 per cent), keeping up with schoolwork (21 per cent), meeting high expectations they set themselves (20 per cent), and meeting expectations set by school (19 per cent).

Parents say that the biggest concern for their boys is fitting in (32 per cent). For girls, the biggest worry is peer pressure (36 per cent), closely followed by hormonal changes (34 per cent) and social media (31 per cent).

More than two in five (44 per cent) of Welsh parents also said that they were aware of other youngsters in their children’s classes showing early signs of self-harm, bullying, anxiety, and unhealthy self-control. less than half of parents (42 per cent) think their children’s schools are well equipped to deal with the mental health needs of the young people they are teaching.

Four in five (81 per cent) of parents say that they would like to see schools produce a termly mental health report in the same way they report on a child’s learning achievements, grades, and attitude in the classroom.

Claire Wensley, Compass’ head of sales for Wales, said: “Parents in Wales are extremely concerned that too many of their children are struggling with mental health issues. What’s more, they suspect that many of them are going to great lengths to hide their problems from their parents, peers, and teachers.

“The tendency of so many students to mask their emotional distress is particularly troubling as it creates barriers to early intervention and support. As every school leader knows, to address an issue you first must have the means to tackle it.

“These finding are a stark warning that cannot be ignored. The continued gap in mental wellbeing between genders underscores an urgent need for intervention and comprehensive support strategies.

“Many in the community are looking to schools for support. And, judging from the responses to our survey, most parents really appreciate that teachers are doing as well as they can do in challenging circumstances to give students what help they can.

“But to be able to assess the state of their students’ wellbeing, schools have first to be able to accurately record behaviour, track it over time and allow teachers to analyse and report it.”

A copy of the Compass report – Disturbing currents: wellbeing and mental health of children in Wales – is available to download for free at www. compass.education/uk/