If you’re wondering why we’re talking about student wellbeing again, you should probably know that today’s high school students are navigating a completely different reality ( have you seen Adolescence?) than we did when we were their age. 

Since then, academic pressure hasn’t gone away… it’s gotten heavier. Add in the social comparison that comes with being constantly online and the emotional consequences of a few unpredictable years (think COVID), and it’s no surprise that student wellbeing has been declining. 

According to the CDC, 42% of high school students reported experiencing persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness in 2023. 

If you work in a school, lead a team, support students in the classroom, or advise on well-being, you’re probably seeing the signs. Students who shut down the minute you mention feedback. Classroom energy that disappears after lunchtime. Kids who seem fine on paper but are running on empty behind the scenes….

Here’s the truth: student wellbeing isn’t separate from academic results, behaviour, or engagement. It’s what makes all of those things possible.

In this guide, we’ll walk through what student wellbeing really means (beyond just mental health), why it matters more than ever in education, and how schools like yours can make it part of everyday school life. 

 

What is Student Wellbeing?

Student wellbeing gets mentioned a lot. In newsletters, on school websites, and during training days. But what does it actually mean?

It’s not just “happiness.” And it’s definitely not just about mental health support when something goes wrong. 

A widely accepted definition comes from the Australian Student Wellbeing Framework, which explains that wellbeing is achieved when students feel safe, supported, and engaged in their learning environment. 

In simpler terms: wellbeing is what helps students thrive, not just survive, in school. When a student’s wellbeing is strong, they’re more likely to:

• Feel confident in their abilities
• Build healthy friendships
• Manage stress or setbacks
• Stay engaged in class
• Participate in school life with energy and curiosity

When wellbeing is low, those same areas start to fall apart. Sometimes slowly, sometimes all at once.

 

Student Health vs. Wellbeing

We often use “health” and “wellbeing” interchangeably, but they’re not the same. Health typically refers to physical aspects like nutrition, exercise, and sleep. Wellbeing, on the other hand, encompasses a broader spectrum, including emotional, social, and mental facets.

For instance, a student might be physically healthy: eating well, sleeping adequately, and exercising regularly, etc. but still feel anxious, isolated, or overwhelmed. 

That indicates a gap in their overall wellbeing.

Mental and physical health are also tightly connected. If a student’s dealing with stress all the time, they might struggle to sleep, get sick more often, or stop eating properly. 

On the other hand, doing physical activity regularly or eating healthy meals can actually improve their mood, focus, and energy levels.

 

Key Dimensions of Student Wellbeing

Student wellbeing is made up of lots of tiny, different parts that all affect how our students feel, act, and learn at school. The first step for us is to understand the difference between each of these parts and their importance:

 

Emotional Wellbeing

Emotional wellbeing is all about how well our students can understand and manage their emotions. Can they calm themselves down when they’re frustrated? Do they know what they’re feeling and why? Are they able to ask for help when they need it?

Our schools can support this part of wellbeing by teaching emotional awareness (not just one workshop once in a blue moon, but regularly), offering access to a school counsellor, and making sure students feel safe expressing themselves. 

 

Mental or Psychological Wellbeing

This refers to a student’s actual mental health. How resilient they are, how they handle pressure, and whether they feel okay in their own mind. It also includes freedom from things like chronic anxiety, depression, or burnout.

Schools need to create an environment that protects this: spotting early warning signs, making space for rest, and shutting down bullying or exclusion before it escalates. 

According to the CDC, 22% of high school students seriously considered attempting suicide in the past couple of years, which is a clear reminder that psychological wellbeing is not something to ignore. In our opinion, this is more like a cry for help. 

 

Social Wellbeing

School is where students form friendships, navigate conflict, and figure out how to belong. That’s why social wellbeing is so important. If students feel left out, disconnected, or constantly targeted, their entire school experience can suffer. 

Luckily, positive teacher-student relationships, inclusive classroom norms, peer mentoring, and extracurricular activities can all help with this. 

The OECD’s 2018 results are proof that students with a strong sense of belonging are more likely to enjoy school and do better academically.

 

Physical Wellbeing

This is the part of wellbeing most people think about first. Being healthy and safe in their bodies. But it’s not just about being the most active in P.E. class! 

It’s also about having enough sleep, eating food that fuels learning, and feeling safe at home and in school spaces.

Schools can support physical wellbeing by offering nutritious meals, giving students time to move, keeping school grounds safe, and making sure no student feels physically threatened or overwhelmed. 

 

Why Student Wellbeing Matters

Wellbeing and Academic Performance

Research consistently shows that students who feel good mentally and emotionally tend to perform better academically. For instance, a study published in the Journal of Learning Analytics found a positive correlation between students’ social and emotional wellbeing and their academic progress.

Another study in the Journal of Adolescent Health highlighted that students with higher wellbeing scores were more likely to have higher academic scores several months later. 

So, no, wellbeing is not just about feeling good. It’s about doing well, too.

 

Impact on School Culture

Our students’ sense of belonging and life satisfaction are directly influenced by things like school climate, teacher support, and peer relationships. While families and communities matter a lot, too, schools are where students spend most of their time. (I know, that sounds exaggerated, but hear me out!)

6-7 hours/day spent at school, multiplied by 5 days a week gets us to a whopping 30-35 hours of time spent at school per week. 

Yes, the regular adult works 40 hours/week at a full-time job. 

And no, that regular adult would probably not want to work in a place where they feel unheard, support is only talked about, and relationships are nonexistent or, even worse, toxic.

When a school culture is fast-paced, exam-focused, or performance-driven, but lacks space for connection, creativity, or emotional safety, wellbeing will suffer. That’s why this isn’t just something the counsellor or wellbeing coordinator “does.” It has to be a whole-school commitment.

How does all of this connect to academic outcomes and school culture – you ask, and what happens when wellbeing is prioritised? Getting to it!  But what about when it’s ignored or postponed constantly?

 

Consequences of Poor Wellbeing

Poor wellbeing doesn’t show up as one of our students saying “Teacher, I’m not okay.” It might show up as missing homework or dropping grades. Headaches that become constant. Zoning out. Or it might not even show up at all. 

We find the data in research papers, sure, but when it comes to real life examples, poor wellbeing in students shows up in ways that can be easily confused with just “going through it”. And school workers need to be able to tell the difference.

As long as test scores are the thing that we, as a society, consider when measuring student success & worth, it’s only natural that schools and teachers will focus their energy and limited resources towards that same goal.  

And we aren’t blaming anyone here. Because we actually understand the weight of the situation & empathise with schools. We can’t expect our teachers to be teaching and fighting for wellbeing on their own, or solve mental health issues with no expertise, knowledge, or support. 

We talk about preparing students for the future, but what kind of future are we actually preparing them for? One where they’ve learned to survive constant pressure without cracking, or one where they’ve learned to hide it better?

Because if our system rewards students for holding it all together, no matter the cost, we shouldn’t be surprised when that cost catches up later. Whether that will be in burnout, breakdowns, or by them simply giving up.

The question is: do we really want to keep calling that “success”?

 

Wellbeing Sets Students Up for Life After School

We’ve gotten so used to measuring student success in numbers that we sometimes forget what success actually looks like after graduation.

It’s not just passing exams. It’s knowing how to bounce back after failing one. It’s not just memorising facts. It’s having the confidence to speak up and question them. Yes, critical thinking is a must, and something that many curricula still lack or fail to develop in students, risking to raise generations that won’t be able to think for themselves…

Want to prepare students for life beyond school? Then we need to stop thinking of soft skills as things you “either have or don’t” and start treating them like what they are: teachable, developable, necessary.

Our schools can build these skills in small, consistent ways:

• Let students reflect on failure without being punished for it
• Teach emotional regulation alongside conflict resolution
• Train teachers to recognise and respond to signs of burnout
• Give students real opportunities to lead, speak, question, and try, even when they’re not sure they’ll succeed

These are the things that prepare our students to deal with life when there’s no cheat sheet or multiple choice answers. 

 

Impact of Wellbeing on School Culture 

A More Positive School Culture

When student wellbeing is taken seriously, school culture becomes more than just rules and routines. Students are calmer. Teachers spend less time managing stress-driven behaviour. Learning actually feels doable and not anxiety-inducing or stressful at all times.

Belonging Matters 

Belonging isn’t just about friendships and having someone to giggle with during breaks in between classes. It’s about feeling like you matter. Students who feel connected are more likely to show up, engage, and ask for help when they need it.

Less Bullying

In schools where wellbeing is part of the culture, bullying becomes harder to get away with. Respect and accountability aren’t just taught, they’re expected and put in practice everyday by staff, senior leadership, and everyone in the school. Because school shouldn’t just teach math formulas or biology, they should also teach fundamental human values.  

Real Relationships, Real Learning

When students feel heard and supported, they’re more willing to try, fail, and keep going. And when teachers see the real-life result of the support they offer, they teach with more patience and presence.

Besides, a good student-teacher relationship results in students trusting the teacher enough to be their go-to person for advice, school-related issues, and more.  

 

Common Challenges to Student Wellbeing

Understanding the key things that might affect our students’ wellbeing levels can help us respond proactively, not just reactively:

Academic stress and pressure

75% of high school students report feeling stressed “often or always” about schoolwork. This chronic stress can lead to burnout, anxiety, and disengagement.

Peer pressure and social comparison

The need to fit in and compare our lives to our peers’ can cause significant stress, leading to anxiety and risky behaviours. Social media amplifies these feelings by showing a false, overly optimistic reality that is misleading.

Bullying (including online)

Approximately 19% of students aged 12–18 reported being bullied during the school year. With the help of technology, the phenomenon of cyberbullying extends the reach of bullying beyond school hours, thus affecting students’ mental health and sense of safety. Remember Adolescence, when the kid wasn’t safe in his own room, at home? 

Body image and self-esteem

31% of teenagers feel ashamed about their body image, with 40% attributing these feelings to social media. Poor body image can lead to social withdrawal, anxiety, and decreased participation in school activities, among other things.

Mental health challenges

As we mentioned previously, our current generations of high school students experience persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness. We’re dealing with an alarmingly growing rate of students who even admit to having considered attempting suicide.

Why do you need to know all this?  

Because this isn’t the high school we grew up with. And unless we take the time to really understand what students are facing (not just academically, but emotionally, socially, and mentally, too) we’ll keep missing the real reasons why they’re struggling.

But naming these challenges is already a step forward. And the good news? 

We’re not just here to point fingers at the problem. We’re here to talk about what schools can actually do, and what’s already working.

 

Strategies to Improve Student Wellbeing

Improving student wellbeing doesn’t require a fancy budget or a total system overhaul. What it does require is intention and involvement from everyone.

Let’s break down what that can actually look like:

Creating a Positive School Culture

When wellbeing is part of our school culture, teachers feel their true worth and are inspired to teach. Students speak up more. And the school atmosphere feels lighter, calmer, more trusting.

Small, consistent things that can help create a more positive school culture:

 – School leaders talking openly about wellbeing in assemblies
– Anti-bullying policies that are lived, not laminated
– Advisory systems that make sure no student falls through the cracks
– Celebrating students for kindness or growth, not just academic wins

 

Teaching Social and Emotional Skills

We teach students algebra and Shakespeare, so why not teach them how to regulate emotions? Manage conflict? Handle disappointment?

That’s what social-emotional learning (SEL) is for. And it works. One major review found that SEL programs led to an average 11-percentile increase in academic performance (source).

It can be simple:

– Morning check-ins
– Mindfulness breaks
– Weekly lessons on empathy, self-talk, and stress management
– Even just acknowledging emotions when they show up in class

The key is consistency. Students won’t build these skills in one lesson. But luckily, we’re spending almost a full-time job’s worth of time with them, so this should not be an excuse.

 

Let Students Be Part of the Wellbeing Process

Students don’t just benefit from wellbeing programs, they should actively help shape them. After all, we’re doing this for them in the end, so why shouldn’t we be doing it with them as well? 

They know best where they need support, so why don’t we listen? When students are given real roles, real input, and a real voice, their sense of belonging and purpose improves.

That can look like:
– A student-led wellbeing committee
– Anonymous feedback forms about stress and support needs
– Clubs, campaigns, or peer mentoring programs driven by students

 

Focus on Mental Health Support

Support needs to be visible and readily accessible, not just brought up when problems start to arise or a school inspection comes through. 

That means:
– Having qualified counsellors on campus (or partnering with professionals nearby)
– Introducing the counselling team early and positively
– Running small group workshops on common stressors
– Training teachers to notice when something’s off

Our students need to know that help is there before things fall apart, and that asking for support won’t label them as weak or “a problem.” And for that to happen, we need to educate them first that it’s not silly to talk with a counsellor or have a support system at school. 

 

Work With Families and the Community

Parents aren’t just part of the picture, they’re a big part of the solution. When families are on the same page about wellbeing, it creates a more stable support system for students. And it’s been shown to work: one study found student outcomes improved by 20% when parents were actively involved in mental health initiatives at school.

Keep it simple:
– Run a few parent workshops a year
– Send out short wellbeing resources or guides
– Encourage conversations at home that mirror what’s being taught in school

And don’t be afraid to bring in outside voices. Mental health professionals, local experts, or even alumni can add perspective, tools, and support that enrich the whole school community.

 

Don’t Forget the Teachers

No student thrives in a school where the adults are barely holding it together. Teachers are the heartbeat of the school, and their wellbeing is just as important.

Give them time. The chance to have a social life after school, without being buried in tasks. Give them support. And give them training that helps them feel confident supporting students emotionally, not just academically.

Workload matters. But so does recognition. So does giving teachers the same message we want students to hear: your wellbeing matters here too.

 

Use Data That Actually Tells You Something

You can’t improve what you don’t measure. Use simple wellbeing surveys or check-in tools to understand how your students are really feeling, not just how they’re performing. We already established that a student can perform well academically and be completely falling apart on the inside. We shouldn’t assume anything when the stakes are so high. 

If you’re looking for tools to help you with school-wide tracking or at-hand initiatives, solutions like our learning platform at Spark Generation are extremely useful as they save you the time, budget, and staff needed to do all the research & implementing yourself. 

Because, let’s be honest – it’s a lot. 

Yes, we send out a survey to check on our students’ wellbeing levels. But… how do we know what to ask them? How can we centralise the responses and find a way to support struggling students, in case they (most probably) all deal with different issues? 

It’s only a few of the questions that a school leader would have had to think about until now, when thinking about supporting student wellbeing. Yes, it can seem like a lot! 

BUT, with the right processes and expertise, it doesn’t have to be. Let us know if your school wants to test this! 

 

Case Study: Using Wellbeing to Build Future-Ready Schools

Transylvania College, a private international school in Romania, had already built a strong reputation for academic excellence. But behind the stellar results, cracks started forming. Ones couldn’t be fixed with more tutoring, meetings, or ambition.

Ruxandra Baciu, the school’s executive director, didn’t just see the shift happening, she felt it herself the moment when her daughter was called “problematic student” at the very school she was leading. You can imagine the toll that takes on you as a school leader, and as a parent…

As a long-time advocate for wellbeing in her personal and professional life, she knew something needed to change, urgently. Problematic shouldn’t be the word we use to describe a twelve-year-old who’s got too much energy. And shaming or punishment isn’t the way we’re going to “fix” them. 

So she started asking the harder questions. “What kind of support do students actually value, not just tolerate? Are teachers responsible for student wellbeing? And if yes… who’s responsible for theirs?”

Every answer led to more questions, and every new initiative seemed to uncover new gaps. But then… something shifted. The efforts began to stick. The language and perception around wellbeing changed.

And the results? They didn’t need explaining.

• Enrolment grew by 30%.
• Family retention rose by 20%.
• Teacher turnover dropped by 15%.

Wellbeing wasn’t the thing slowing them down. It was laying the groundwork for a school culture that could actually last. 

This kind of transformation? You don’t gate keep it. You share it. Because it works, and because every school deserves the chance to build something that actually contributes to the growth of our future generations. 

 

What to take away from all this?

Student wellbeing isn’t a soft skill. It’s a survival skill. And for schools that want to prepare students for anything beyond graduation, it’s non-negotiable. We’ve seen what happens when wellbeing is treated as a side topic. 

We’ve also seen what’s possible when it becomes part of how a school operates. Not perfectly. Not overnight. But with consistency, care, and a willingness to ask the hard questions.

If you’re reading this and wondering where to begin, the answer is simple: begin where you are. 

Listen more closely. Check in more often. And treat wellbeing like the shared responsibility it is, not something one teacher, one counsellor, or one hour a week can fix alone.

If you ever need help figuring out what that could look like in your own school, we’re here.

 

 

FAQ: Everything about Student Wellbeing

1. Why is student wellbeing important in high school?

Student wellbeing isn’t and shouldn’t be separated from learning. It’s what makes learning possible. When students feel emotionally and physically safe, supported, and seen, they’re more likely to stay engaged, perform better academically, and build the skills they need beyond school. Research and real-life experience show that wellbeing is the foundation for both academic success and long-term personal growth.

2. Does student wellbeing affect academic performance?

Wellbeing has a direct impact on academic results. Students who feel supported are more focused, more confident, and more motivated to learn. Social-emotional skills like self-regulation, stress management, and communication are strongly linked to better academic outcomes. In fact, studies show that schools investing in SEL (social-emotional learning) see improvements in both behaviour and grades.

3. What are some practical ways for schools to support student wellbeing?

Schools can support student wellbeing by making it part of daily life and school culture, not just a one-off initiative. This includes creating safe, inclusive environments, integrating SEL into lessons, listening to student feedback, offering accessible mental health support, and caring for staff wellbeing too. Even small steps, like regular check-ins or reduced admin loads for teachers, can make a big difference.

4. What are the benefits of using a wellbeing platform like Spark Generation?

A platform like Spark Generation helps schools track student wellbeing in real time, provide personalised support, and reduce pressure on teachers through smart, AI-led tools. As seen in schools like Transylvania College, this approach leads to stronger engagement, better retention, and a healthier school culture overall.