Case study – local authority 1

A local authority representative explains how all of its secondary schools are using the wellbeing measurement framework (WMF) to target resources where they are needed the most.

Wellbeing Measurement Framework (WMF)

The WMF is a wellbeing measurement tool used extensively as part of our HeadStart Project for The National Lottery Community Fund, the learnings from which are feeding into #BeeWell.

Benchmarking wellbeing support 

All 13 secondary schools in local authority (LA) 1 use the WMF. It is optional for primary schools but there are 23 primary schools in LA1 that use it. The WMF has a relevance across the community, it allows for comparison against other schools in LA1, and equally you can compare LA1 with other HeadStart areas, which has been very valuable in helping to understand our work in a local and national context.

Educating leadership teams and school governors

At LA1 we present WMF findings to senior leadership teams and governors, helping them understand the relevance of the data. The WMF helps inform schools of at risk and vulnerable groups. This helps them to make better use of the resource they have – targeting interventions to those most in need.

Building a bigger picture of pupils' needs

The WMF reports have supported movements within the LA1 and the local Clinical Commissioning Group and have provided information to CAHMS and is generally at the heart of any collaborative work that LA1 has done with partners. The WMF has the flexibility to accommodate additional analysis - it has allowed us to split the data by quadrants (into LA1’s four areas), allowing us to take into account key measures combining additional local data such as child in need data, child protection data, school exclusion data, free school meals data, and so on. This allows a bigger picture to form of pupils’ needs in LA1.