Adoption UK is conducting a survey on ‘well-being in school’ to improve our understanding of adoptive families’ needs and to help inform the next phase of our campaigning on education.

Adoption UK members often raise concerns about their children’s experiences in school with 80 percent telling us that they need more support. Research into adoptees’ attainment and exclusion rates has added weight to this call for extra support. Adopted children are  half as likely to receive good GCSEs and 20 times more likely to be permanently excluded than the general pupil population.

The survey should take no longer than 10 minutes to complete and the results will form the basis of a report on adopted children’s well-being and attainment in school. The survey includes questions for both parents and children to respond to and covers a range of important issues such as transitions, homework, bullying and much more.

Collecting the views of adopters and their children on well-being will help Adoption UK build a strong evidence base for its campaigning on education. Last year’s exclusions survey received more than 2,000 responses and the findings led to the Department for Education agreeing to collect official statistics on the rate of exclusions among adopted children.

Adoption UK’s schools development officer, Becky White, said: “The adoptive parents I speak to often express concerns about their children’s well-being in school. There is no doubt that when children are struggling socially and emotionally, it negatively affects attainment too. That is why we are surveying families to uncover the full extent of the challenge we are facing with regards to well-being in school."

You can complete the survey here

Information gathered in the survey is anonymous and you will not be asked any personal details. The deadline is 11:59pm on Wednesday 21^st March. If you have any queries then please email [email protected]. Adoption UK would like to thank all those who take the time to complete the survey.