A parent in Surrey has expressed outrage at a survey given to pupils, claiming it is helping to promote harmful ideas on “drugs, identity and self-harm”.
GB News can reveal the survey was sent out to thousands of children as young as 11-years-old, questioning their gender identity and whether they “drink alcoholic drinks when stressed”.
The form, published by the Schools and Students Health Education Unit, was distributed to every secondary school in Surrey and according to the council, all areas of the country as well.
Defending the survey, Surrey County Council told GB News that the questions asked provide “extremely valuable information and insights” about the pupils.
School parent Lisa McKenner hit out at the survey given to her 11-year-old daughter
Getty / GB News
Speaking to GB News, parent Lisa McKenner said her daughter was left “confused” by the document, and asked her “why somebody would want to hurt themselves”.
Detailing her “shock” at the survey, McKenner explained: “I actually phoned the school and asked them to send me the survey, which with a lot of pushing, they eventually did send me the survey. And when I read through it, I was just completely shocked at the content of it.
“I’m very concerned. There’s lots of vulnerable children in schools, very impressionable. There are many autistic children in schools that would read a lot of what’s in here.”
Noting the question about self-harm, McKenner argued that it may “promote self-harm as an option” to children, if they were unaware of the concept before.
The survey given to pupils asked them if they ‘drink alcohol’ or ‘hurt themselves’ when they are feeling stressed
GB News
McKenner said: “As a matter of fact, if the survey says when I’m feeling worried that maybe I should try cutting or harming myself because it’s in the survey, so that must be an option. I’ve tried everything else, so why not try this?
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:
“There’s a list of 17 different types of drugs, some of which I’ve actually never heard of myself. The solvent areas I find is very concerning, because a lot of those are very easily reachable for children, and they may give them a go.
“My daughter is 11-years-old, she would never have thought of this.”
When asked if there was an option for parents to “opt out” of the survey on behalf of their children, McKenner told GB News: “There was a very generic email that went out to the parents that said that there was a survey going out.
“If you’d like to view it, make an appointment to come into the school. It wasn’t easy for parents to take time off work to come in, make an appointment to view it. And to be honest, I never expected it to contain anything like this to be given to children.”
McKenner told GB News that parents were told in an email about the survey
GB News
In a statement, Surrey County Council told The People’s Channel: “It is a tried and tested holistic survey which provides extremely valuable information and insights to understand the health and wellbeing experiences and behaviours of children and young people.
“The specific question related to self-harm is a standardised question which is used across the country, an issue which affects a proportion of young people. And we believe it is vital to include questions on important issues such as this, to enable the right support to be put in place locally and nationally.”
The School’s Health Education Unit, providers of the survey, said: “Schools opt-in to do the survey. Pupils are advised that they don’t have to answer any questions they don’t wish to answer (or any at all).
“Parents are asked if they want to withdraw their children from the exercise. All parents have the opportunity to view the questions and exclude their child if they think their child is not yet ready for such topics. We would much prefer that pupils encounter subjects such as self-harm or substance abuse in a supportive environment, with trained staff on hand to discuss any concerns and dispel any myths.”
