School Survey

Claypit Hill Student Survey 2015

In April, 2015, we administered our School Council Annual Survey about stress related areas to fourth and fifth grade students. This is the fourth year that fourth and fifth graders have taken this anonymous survey, which complies with State guidelines and the Anti-Bullying mandates.  We continue to look for trends and areas of concern around student wellness and the results in 2015 were pretty consistent with results from the previous three years.  Overall we continue to have students who are happy to be in school and have positive relationships with peers, teachers and parents.  The individual comments are not being published, but they continue to be consistent from year to year, with many students saying they like to talk to their parents when they have a problem, rather than to a teacher, but many will talk to teachers.  There were some areas of note that showed some improvement from last year.  Almost 84% reported that they have four or more friends to be with at recess, while last year, it was about 76%.  This year, 81% reported they have four or more friends to sit with at lunch and last year 77% noted this. This year, 7% of students noted that they feel stressed when they are at school and last year almost 10% noted that when asked this question. And, 70% noted they are not usually stressed at school, while last year it was 64%.  This year 93% reported that they feel safe at Claypit Hill School and last year 86% answered positively to the same question. And, this year, 91% said “yes” – they know an adult at Claypit who they can talk to if they have a problem and last year, 84% answered “yes” to this question. When asked if they have felt as if they have been bullied or teased often, 5% answered “often” and last year 10% answered “often.” 

Highlights from this year’s survey are noted above, as the trend seems to be moving in a positive direction for several of the pertinent areas of student stress.   The staff have worked diligently to incorporate social thinking skills into the Open Circle curriculum and this is a goal for all teachers, as they work to help all children to understand social cues as well as how to proceed when they are involved or witness to mean spirited acts, as well as keeping those negative  “thought bubbles” inside.   Problems with friends, “drama,” PARCC testing, a teacher, not feeling good about math, kids being mean to substitute teachers were repeated by several students as reasons they feel stressed at school. When asked how to make Claypit Hill more positive and helpful, many answers were similar to past years:  more recess; better lunch; ice cream; all kids should be nice to each other; no ideas; Claypit is great; stop PARCC testing; less homework; no suggestions; stop favoring the girls;  listen to kids more about their strategies;  it’s pretty nice already.  

This year’s survey seems to mirror what we feel as a staff – we are consistently working on areas which create “stress” for students and going forward, this will continue to be an area of high focus for the school. Fortunately we have parents and guardians who partner with us every day to work on the areas that are challenging.  Thank you for sending us students who are well balanced, honest and fun!  Claypit Hill staff will continue to make student well-being the highest priority.  


Student Survey Results


Debbie Bearse, Principal
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