Evidence-based

Evidence & Research

BounceMH's approach is grounded in published research on pupil wellbeing measurement, early intervention, and what schools report after sustained use. This page collects the evidence: the academic foundations, our platform outcomes, and three school case studies.

The research foundations

The validated survey instruments built into BounceMH are drawn from decades of educational psychology research. Each one was designed for schools, tested at scale, and published in peer-reviewed journals before we adopted it.

Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ)

Developed by Robert Goodman at the Maudsley Hospital in London. The SDQ is used in over 40 countries and has been validated in samples exceeding 10,000 children. It measures five domains: emotional symptoms, conduct problems, hyperactivity/inattention, peer relationship problems, and prosocial behaviour. The SDQ is recommended by NHS England as a routine outcome measure for children's mental health services.

PASS (Pupil Attitudes to Self and School)

Created by GL Assessment, PASS measures nine factors related to how pupils feel about themselves and their school, including perceived learning capability, self-regard, and preparedness for learning. It has been normed against a UK sample of over 650,000 pupils and is widely used in both primary and secondary settings.

Data dashboard on a laptop screen showing charts and analytics

Stirling Children's Wellbeing Scale

Developed by Stirling Council's Educational Psychology Service for primary-aged children. It focuses on positive wellbeing (optimism, cheerfulness, relaxation) rather than deficit measures, and uses child-friendly language accessible from age 7 upward. Published validation studies show good internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha 0.85) and test-retest reliability.

Platform outcomes

Across the 600+ schools using BounceMH, we track aggregate, anonymised outcomes to understand what changes after schools adopt systematic wellbeing monitoring. These figures are drawn from our internal data for schools with at least 12 months of continuous use.

35% more pupils identified as needing support compared to the school's previous referral-based approach (self-reported by pastoral leads in annual review surveys).
94% average survey completion rate across all year groups. Higher than typical for school surveys, partly because the platform is designed to be quick (5-8 minutes) and partly because schools that explain the purpose get better engagement.
68% of schools report improved pastoral conversations with parents, because staff can share specific data rather than general observations. "Your child's wellbeing score dropped from 72 to 58 between October and January" is a more useful starting point than "we've noticed she seems a bit quiet."
Median time from flag to first conversation: 3 school days. When a pupil's score drops below a threshold, the platform notifies the relevant staff member. Most schools have an initial check-in within the same week.

Teacher reviewing student data and making notes in a notebook

Case studies

Beckett Academy, North West (Secondary, 1,200 pupils)

Beckett Academy adopted BounceMH in September 2023. Before implementation, their pastoral team relied on teacher referrals and an annual wellbeing survey with a 61% completion rate. After 12 months with BounceMH:

Survey completion rose to 96%
42 additional pupils were identified for pastoral support who had not been referred through teacher observation
Persistent absence in the year groups surveyed dropped from 24% to 19% (the school attributes part of this to earlier identification of wellbeing-related attendance issues)
The head of pastoral reported that "the data changed the quality of our conversations in pastoral meetings. We stopped guessing and started looking."

St Mary's Church of England Primary, Midlands (Primary, 210 pupils)

A smaller primary that introduced BounceMH to address concerns about post-pandemic wellbeing in Key Stage 2. The school runs the Stirling scale termly across Years 3-6.

First survey identified 8 pupils (11% of KS2) with scores below the concern threshold. Of these, only 2 were already known to the pastoral team.
By the third term, 5 of the 8 flagged pupils showed improved scores following targeted small-group support (circle time, a weekly check-in with the SENCO, and one external referral).
The headteacher cited the data in their Ofsted self-evaluation form, demonstrating a systematic approach to wellbeing monitoring that inspectors subsequently rated positively.

Edenfield MAT, Yorkshire (Multi-academy trust, 7 schools, 4,800 pupils)

Edenfield MAT rolled out BounceMH across all seven of its schools simultaneously, using the MAT-level rollup feature to compare wellbeing patterns across sites.

The trust identified that wellbeing scores in their two schools with the highest pupil premium populations were 12 points lower on average than their more affluent sites. This had been suspected anecdotally but never measured.
The trust board used this data to redistribute pastoral funding, adding 0.5 FTE counsellor capacity to both schools.
After two terms of additional support, the gap narrowed to 7 points. The trust's director of education noted that "without comparable data across sites, we would never have had the conversation about reallocation."