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RESOURCE HUB

Statistics

Studies

  • GEN Z Rethinking Culture is the result of a survey commissioned by Youth for Christ of 1001 young people on the topics of Culture, Influence, Priorities and Religion and Faith. The aim was to learn more about this generation and ultimately help to inform ways to reach and engage them.

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Social Media & Online Safety

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  • Children as young as seven are using social media regularly. Yet the minimum age to use most social media is 13. Responses from children aged 7 to 11 suggested that almost half used social media a few times a week or every day. It was also found that 43% of 7-8 year-olds had a smart phone.

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  • In their report Children sending and receiving sexual messages, the NSPCC states: "Of the primary school children surveyed, 1 in 25 had been sent or shown a naked or semi-naked image by an adult. Of the secondary school children surveyed, 1 in every 20 had been sent or shown a naked or semi-naked image by an adult."

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  • One in three children lie about their age to access adult content on social media, according to research commissioned by the regulator, Ofcom. The Ofcom-commissioned research found 32% of children have an account intended for adults, while 47% of children aged eight to 15 have a user age of 16 and over. And 60% of children under the age of 13 who use social media accounts have their own profiles, despite not being old enough.

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  • Research carried out by UK Safer Internet Centre surveyed 2000 eight to 17 year olds about their feelings and attitudes towards social media. 68% said that chatting to their friends online actually cheers them up; 88% also said that when a friend was feeling sad or upset they would use social media to send a supportive message. Equally, the report still indicates that 56% experienced sadness and 52% felt anger.

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  • Research carried out by online safety organisation ‘Internet Matters’ has found that although nearly 7 out of 10 children aged 11-16 think parental controls are a good idea, 6 out of 10 parents don’t set them.

Mental Health

  • It is said that, on average, three children in every classroom have a diagnosable mental health issue. One in five children will experience a mental health difficulty at least once in their first 11 years, and many adults with lifetime mental health issues can trace the symptoms back to childhood. This is a real source of concern for anyone working in a school.​

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  • 15 year olds in the UK are amongst the unhappiest in the world, with the main reason being anxiety about academic performance and bullying. Despite the worry statistic, when the young people were asked how they felt about life, the average score for life satisfaction was 6.98, while 28 per cent of those questioned said they were very satisfied with their lives.

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  • The Annual Bullying Survey 2020 documents the true extent and nature of bullying behaviours from the real and often unheard voices of the young people who experience it. The report highlights that bullying as a whole has increased by 25% year-on-year. When asked broadly about their mental health, 42% of young people said that they have battled with anxiety, 25% with depression and 21% with suicidal thoughts. School pressures, exams, body image, feelings of loneliness and bereavement were referenced as the leading contributors to poor mental health.

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  • 74% of teachers believe poor mental health support is affecting children’s ability to learn (Young Minds 2022).

 

There are 76,000 school children in Sheffield. In the Sheffield Emotional Wellbeing and Mental Health Strategy (2019):

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  • It was estimated that 7000 5-15 year olds in Sheffield have a clinically recognisable mental health disorder.

  • 15,000 Sheffield children and young people live with a parent with a mental health disorder.

  • 40% of Sheffield children experience insecure attachment which is a serious risk factor for poor mental health.

  • 50% of mental health illnesses are established by the age of 14 and 40% of young people experience at least one mental health disorder by the age of 16. the number of children presenting to the NHS for support with mental and emotional needs is increasing year on year.

Schools & Education

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  • A study found 72% of teachers surveyed believe students transitioning from Year 6 to Year 7 will struggle more with their speech and language in comparison to year groups who started secondary school before the coronavirus pandemic. (Speech and Language UK 2022).

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  • Education is the most injury-prone sector in the UK, and Secondary School teachers in particular are three times more likely to be physically attacked at work than the average UK employee, according to the Labour Force Survey. From 2009-10 to 2015-16 there were on average 8,000 attacks on teachers in schools every year.
     

  • A few statistics to get you thinking: 50% of all children and young people in our country have been bullied at some point during their school lives. 25% have been bullied in the last year. 11% are bullied on an almost daily basis. That’s nearly 150,000 children and young people who dread going to school every single day of their lives, for fear of what awaits them. Of those bullied daily, 27% feel constantly ill, 31% have self harmed and 44% have developed depression. From Christians in Education weekly post 2017.

 

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  • More than 40 schools have sought exemptions in the past 18 months (April 2017) from the legal requirement to provide a daily act of Christian worship, with many choosing ‘non-faith’ or ‘multi-faith’ alternatives for the first time. A total of 46 schools since 2015 have asked to opt out from a daily act of worship that is ‘wholly or mainly’ of a Christian character, a rule that has been in place since 1944.

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  • Thousands of state schools across England are segregated along ethnic or social grounds, according to research. More than a quarter of primary and four in 10 secondary schools are ethnically divided, the social integration charity, The Challenge, found. It says almost a third of primary and a quarter of secondary schools are segregated along socio-economic lines.

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  • Nearly two million school-aged children in the UK are struggling with talking and understanding words in the aftermath of Covid, a charity has found. The study from Speech and Language UK found that at least 1.7 million children were struggling with verbal communication which risked impacting their education. They found 72% of teachers surveyed believe students transitioning from Year 6 to Year 7 will struggle more with their speech and language in comparison to year groups who started secondary school before the coronavirus pandemic.

Faith

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  • New research commissioned by Christian youth organisation Hope Revolution Partnership suggests that levels of Christianity were much higher among young people than previously thought. The figures show that more than one in five (21%) of people between the ages of 11 and 18 describe themselves as active followers of Jesus, and 13% say they are practising Christians who attend church. Around 13% of teenagers said that they decided to become a Christian after a visit to a church or cathedral, according to the figures.

Sexual Assault

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  • A "staggering" 1,316 offences were recorded in the first six months of a new child grooming law being introduced last year in England and Wales. Of the cases recorded, the youngest victim was a seven-year-old girl, although girls aged between 12 and 15 were the most likely to be targeted by predators. Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat were the most common sites used by offenders, making up 63% of all incidents.

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  • Figures reveal that "almost 30,000 reports of children sexually assaulting other youngsters, including 2,625 alleged attacks on school premises, have been made to police in the last four years".

Family Life

  • Britain has some of the most unstable families in the developed world, a new study has found. Figures released by the Marriage Foundation show that the majority of British children born to co-habiting couples will see their parents break up, while a third of British 12-year-olds have seen their married parents separate.

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  • More than 26,000 children experienced domestic abuse in Sheffield last year, according to a new report (BBC 2023).

 

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  • By age 4, children living in poverty hear 30 million fewer words than children in higher income households, according to researchers.

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  • There are about 87,000 children in care in the UK, and every year about 5,500 are adopted (2017).
     

Pornography

  • Children as young as nine have been exposed to pornography and a quarter of 16-21-year-olds first saw pornography on the internet while still at primary school. Of the 18-21-year-olds in the study, 79% had seen pornography involving sexual violence as children.

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  • Nearly 40% of all teenagers have posted or sent sexually suggestive messages, but this practice is more common among boys than girls.​

 

  • One in three children lie about their age to access adult content on social media, according to research commissioned by the regulator, Ofcom. The Ofcom-commissioned research found 32% of children have an account intended for adults, while 47% of children aged eight to 15 have a user age of 16 and over. And 60% of children under the age of 13 who use social media accounts have their own profiles, despite not being old enough.

Gambling

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  • It is estimated that 2% of 11-15 year-olds are problem gamblers.

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  • The overall rate of gambling among 11-15 year olds is around 16%. This figure compares to 5% of 11-15 year olds who have smoked and 8% who have drunk alcohol in the last week, while 6% have taken drugs in the last month.

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  • Internet gambling, while technically restricted to over 18s, means that some children are able to gamble by lying about their age.

Alcohol and Drugs

  • According to NHS Digital, one in five 15-year-olds vaped in 2021; the current figure is expected to be higher. Many parents of teens who vape feel the official figures are too low, with some estimating that as many as 70% or even 90% of children in a school year vape.

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  • NHS Digital figures suggest one in 10 children aged 11-15 had drunk alcohol in the previous week, and nearly a quarter of 15-year-olds describing themselves as having recently been "drunk".

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Sheffield

There are 76,000 school children in Sheffield:

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  • It estimated that 7000 5-15 year olds in Sheffield have a clinical recognisable mental health disorder.

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  • 15,000 Sheffield children and young people live with a parent with a mental health disorder.

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  • 40% of Sheffield children experience insecure attachment which is a serious risk factor for poor mental health.

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  • 75% of mental health illnesses are established by the age of 14 and the number of children presenting to the NHS for support with mental and emotional needs is increasing year on year.

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  • Sheffield is fairing particularly badly with fixed term exclusions running at almost triple the national average and permanent exclusions are also high.

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  • With cut backs in statutory services and increased referrals to social care and CAMHS, the thresholds for support have become higher.

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  • More than 26,000 children experienced domestic abuse in Sheffield last year, according to a new report (BBC 2023).

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