The media picked up on some of its headline findings:
- 1 in 3 girls are unhappy with their appearance
- Girls are less happy than they used to be
- Children’s direct experiences of where they live affect their well-being more than factors further removed from them
It lists three main policy recommendations:
- The Government should introduce a legally binding entitlement for children and young people to be able to access mental health and well-being support in educational settings in England and Wales. This must include sufficient funding.
- The Government must commit to understanding and acting on children’s well-being. At the moment there is no firm commitment from the Government that children’s well-being will continue to be measured. With a new Government in place, now is the time to reaffirm the commitment to monitoring well-being – and particularly children’s well-being – across the UK.
- Local authorities across the UK should develop a process to make sure that children have a voice in decision-making about their local areas, including:
- Developing a process to allow children and young people to debate the issues affecting their lives and to assist in decision-making over setting priorities for the year ahead.
- Bringing people together at a neighbourhood level to improve children’s access to, and their perception of safety in, their local environment – including local parks and open spaces.
- Producing an annual children and young people’s local profile that brings together the range of data that is available on children’s lives in the area.
You can read the summary report here or have a look at the full report.
And if you want to tackle some of the issues raised by the report such as self-esteem, relationships and well-being, get hold of the Seriously Awkward resource which has 6 creative sessions to use with young people.
