A new survey conducted by Public Health Wales has shown that most people in Wales support schools and nurseries having a role in health and wellbeing outcomes for under 18s.  

The latest results from Public Health Wales’ Time to Talk Public Health panel survey show that support for the role of educational settings (e.g. schools and nurseries) was high across all nine child health and wellbeing areas asked about.  When asked to what extent they support or oppose education settings having a role in health and wellbeing, in the general population, the proportion responding “strongly support” was greatest for supporting online safety (77 percent), preventing smoking and vaping (76 percent), accessing support for mental health difficulties (74 percent), and preventing alcohol and drug misuse (74 percent).  

Even greater support was found among parents with children aged under 18 years, where the proportions responding “strongly support” were highest for online safety (84 percent), developing positive coping mechanisms (80 percent), accessing support for mental health difficulties (80 percent), developing positive relationship (78 percent), and preventing smoking and vaping (78 percent). Schools play a small but important role in promoting health and wellbeing among young people, and parental support has been identified in the wider literature as one of the key levers enabling settings to embed whole school approaches to health and wellbeing.  

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