Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the comparative (1) happiness, and (2) mental distress, experienced by pupils in (a) community schools, (b) foundation schools, (c) voluntary schools, (d) free schools, (e) academies, and (f) grammar schools.

The department does not hold the specific data on the happiness and mental wellbeing of pupils in different types of schools.

Pupil mental health and wellbeing are a priority for the government and the department gets data and information from a wide range of sources and bring those together into regular State of the Nation reports. Our most recent State of the Nation report, published in February 2022, found that following a reduction in measures of wellbeing in 2020 there were some signs of recovery in the last academic year, responding to improvements in pandemic conditions. However, it also reports data that shows while rates of mental health problems in children and young people have not continued to increase from 2020, they remained at elevated levels in 2021.

The report also supported the value of being in school for supporting wellbeing. Older children and young people, females, those with existing mental health needs and for some measures those with disadvantaged backgrounds or special educational needs were more likely to show greater impacts.

The full report can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/state-of-the-nation-2021-children-and-young-peoples-wellbeing.