Pupil Mental Health Survey

SHINE schools identified mental health as a top health priority in the 2019 SHINE case studies. In response to feedback from SHINE schools who had received SHINE/HBSC reports, SHINE developed the SHINE online pupil mental health survey as a free and flexible resource for school members of the network. Teachers expressed their interest in using an evidence-based approach to improvement planning.

The survey was used by over 245 SHINE schools, generating nearly 19,500 completed responses from young people in 2020-2021. By the end of June 2026, over 220,000 young people had participated in the SHINE mental health survey.

All SHINE schools are eligible to take part in the survey. To receive access to the SHINE mental health survey pack and your school’s unique login and QR code to access the survey, please complete the survey registration form. Once we have received a school’s completed survey registration form, the SHINE Network Manager will send the link to the survey pack with all the documents, support videos and checklists as well as the pupil login details for the school.

If your school is taking part in a Local Authority-wide data collection, there is no need to complete the survey registration form. The access link to an LA-specific survey pack and your school’s login details will be emailed directly to the school contact provided

The SHINE mental health survey is a resource available for schools who have registered with the SHINE network. Membership of the network is free to schools. Visit our membership section to find out more about becoming a member.

The measures in the survey are validated for use with pupils from P6 to S6 and can be used annually as a tracking and monitoring tool.

The SHINE mental health survey should be used no more than once a year as part of the school improvement cycle. Individual schools can collect data in the Autumn term between September and the end of November.  Local Authority data collection windows are agreed between the SHINE team and the Local Authority according to capacity.

Data will be cleaned and reports collated at the end of each data collection window to manage the volume of data efficiently. Local Authorities wishing to collect data across all schools in the LA should contact the SHINE network manager (shw-shine@glasgow.ac.uk) to discuss capacity and arrange a data collection window.

 All SHINE schools that take part in the survey receive a school-level data report (subject to having at least 14 responses – minimum 7 girls/7 boys – per school for a Primary school and 40 responses – minimum 20 boys/20 girls per year group for secondary schools). The data from the survey can be used to support schools in addressing the health and wellbeing needs of pupils in their school when planning for improvement. 

We recommend as many pupils as possible take part, according to the age guidelines, P6 and P7 for the Primary version and S1 to S6 for the secondary version.  The measures in the Primary questionnaire are not validated for children below the age of P6. We suggest that whole classes are invited to participate, rather than part of a class. This is so that the results are as representative as possible of your school.

The survey asks young people about different aspects of their mental health: (i) subjective wellbeing (ii) mental health problems and (iii) positive mental health. The survey also includes other key topics that we know are associated with good overall health and wellbeing, such as sleep and school engagement.

Our survey data reports are designed to be shared with staff, young people, parents/carers and community partners to ensure that all stakeholders can be involved in the discussions about young people’s mental health and wellbeing as well as the decision-making process when it comes to improvement planning. The ability to share the data reports across the whole learning community at all levels provides evidence for the whole school to consider their context and contribute to a solution-focused agenda in wellbeing. Pupil anonymity is protected across all data reports.

The SHINE team were delighted to see the SHINE online mental health survey included as a resource for additional assessment of pupil health and wellbeing in the Scottish Government Framework document: Whole School Approach to Mental Health and Wellbeing.