Schools Health Education Unit (SHEU) Survey 2025/26

Understanding the health and wellbeing of children and young people is important for identifying local needs, recognising inequalities and supporting the development of services and interventions. Information about young people's experiences can also help provide a broader picture of the factors that influence their health, including their home, school and social environments.

The Schools and Students Health Education Unit (SHEU) is an independent research organisation that carries out health and wellbeing surveys with children and young people. The SHEU survey provides a local picture of pupils' experiences and can be adapted to reflect local priorities. Questions cover a range of topics, including emotional health and wellbeing, physical activity, healthy lifestyles, relationships, school experiences and online safety.

The findings help identify where some groups of children and young people may have different experiences and outcomes. We aim to repeat the survey on a biennial basis, allowing changes in experiences and behaviours to be monitored over time.

A range of education settings can be invited to take part, including primary and secondary schools, special schools and alternative provision. The survey is commonly completed by pupils in Years 4 and 6 in primary schools and Years 8 and 10 in secondary schools, although other year groups may also be included depending on local requirements.

In Milton Keynes, data was collected during the 2025–2026 academic from pupils n Years 4, 6, 8 and 10. A total of 22 schools took part, with 1,928 pupils completing the survey. However, only a small number of secondary schools participated, so the secondary school findings were not considered sufficiently representative to provide a summary. The published findings therefore focus on responses from primary school pupils.

The survey provides insight into how children and young people in Milton Keynes view their health, wellbeing and everyday experiences. The findings show a mixture of positive outcomes and areas where further support may be beneficial, with some experiences differing between groups of pupils.

Headlines

The headline findings from the 2025 survey highlight the following:

• 76% of pupils felt ‘quite happy’ or ‘very happy’ with their life

• 26% worry ‘quite a lot’ or ‘a lot’ about someone using alcohol or drugs

• 25% were bullied in the last 12 months 

Overall, this data suggests the health, wellbeing and experiences of children and young people in Milton Keynes is broadly similar to other places with a comparable profile.

Further information on the Milton Keynes SHEU survey findings is available through the following resources:  

Download the survey infographic

Short videos summarising the key findings from the Milton Keynes SHEU survey.

Primary school findings — with graphs

Key findings presented with supporting graphs.

Primary school findings — without graphs

A version focusing on the findings without graphs.