A MAJOR new study into Barnsley youngsters’ thoughts about safety has revealed a THIRD of school-age girls feel unsafe when they are in the town centre.
The Let’s Hear Your Voice survey, compiled by Barnsley Council’s public health team, involved 44 schools and almost 1,700 pupils.
Revealed to the public on Wednesday, pupils from years four, six, eight and ten - as well as post-16 youngsters - reported concerns about feeling most unsafe at Barnsley Interchange.
Bullying also remains a strong concern, with 13 per cent of pupils saying they are often targeted, and more than a third experiencing it occasionally - most commonly in person - at school.
Only 52 per cent of year six children said they felt ready to move up to secondary school, and many of those in older year groups reported limited access to real-world work experience.
A report, which was discussed at a meeting yesterday, said: “This survey helps public health professionals and wider colleagues to find out how to improve the health and wellbeing of children and young people in Barnsley on a population level.
“The findings can be used to look at areas to celebrate and improve on which feeds into various work areas and groups across the council.
“This survey is intended to act as a long-term cohort study for Barnsley, tracking pupils throughout their education, offering in depth, timely trend data which can be compared against wider national datasets.
“Participating schools will have access to individual school level reports which will to help to translate the data into real, tangible actions and will provide evidence for Ofsted.
“Findings feed into an anonymous population dashboard which will be widely used by Barnsley Council and local partners to inform targeted planning and commissioning of health and related services.
“The survey was completed online during school time, in one sitting, and the questions and topics are all age appropriate for each cohort.
“When combining all year groups and comparing all other locations, pupils felt most unsafe in Barnsley Interchange.
“Females in year ten also reported feeling most unsafe in Barnsley
town centre when comparing gender.”
It is hoped that the results from the survey can be used by schools and wider services to support young people and make sure they have the best health and education possible throughout school and beyond.
It comes as the Anti-Bullying Alliance said staff must be better equipped at tackling issues encountered by children to lessen the serious impact it has, both in school and in public settings.
Director Martha Evans added: “We know that almost a quarter of children say they are being bullied frequently face-to-face, so it is unacceptable that understanding how to deal with bullying isn’t a mandatory part of initial teacher training.
“There are many examples of school staff who do a great job for the children that rely on them, but we must do more.
“If we get better at equipping staff to root out the problem, take a whole-school approach to tackling bullying, and make sure there is a senior teacher leading the way, then the serious implications of being bullied can be lessened.”
