(File photo/northeastNOW Staff).

By Aaron Schulze

NESD Students

NESD survey reveals students’ anxiety, depression, sense of belonging

Apr 17, 2019 | 11:22 AM

About a quarter of the 2,700 students in the North East School Division deals with anxiety and 30 per cent of students are bullied — those are two of many statistics revealed in the recent OurSCHOOL survey, presented earlier this week at the district’s Wall Walk event.

According to the OurSCHOOL Survey:

• Seventy-six per cent of students grades four to six had a high sense of belonging, down 10 per cent from the national average; 62 per cent from Grade 7 to 12, down four per cent from the national average
• Twenty-four per cent from Grade 4 to 6 have intense feelings of fear, intense anxiety, or worry about particular events or social situations, up two per cent from the national average; 24 per cent from Grade 7 to 12, down two per cent from the national average
• Twenty-five per cent from Grade 7 to 12 had moderate to high levels of depression, down one per cent from the national average; Grade 4 to 6 wasn’t shown or conducted
• Thirty per cent from Grade 4 to 6 are subjected to physical, social, verbal, or internet bullying, up two per cent from the national average; 20 per cent from Grade 7 to 12 is one per cent up from the national average

Don Rempel, director of education, said the NESD tries not to overreact one way or the other.

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“It’s not that we’re not concerned,” Rempel said. “But you put in context and analyze whether you’re above or below what the average community’s school report is. It’s a continuous improvement process where you want to keep looking at the same indicators year to year to pay attention to a balanced program.

“For a long time, we looked at academic outcomes and students feeling that their education is going to benefit them when they go out in the world of work and post-secondary. Now we’re starting to look at the social and emotional indicators. Mental health and wellbeing are impacted by nutrition, sense of belonging, and academic success as anything else.”

Rempel said the big demographic indicators for students when they fill out the survey are self-declared Métis, First Nations, non-First Nations, male, and female.

The report was prepared by Mark Jensen, coordinator of continuous improvement and reporting.

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aaron.schulze@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @SchulzePANow