Govox partners with Stowe School to enhance student wellbeing

At the start of this academic year, Stowe School partnered with digital mental health monitoring service, Govox Wellbeing, to further enhance their sector-leading pastoral care system.  

Govox’s platform engages Stowe pupils with bi-termly simple digital ‘check ins’ where they answer a set of short questions that analyse their overall mental health, providing a ‘wellbeing score’ and flagging any concerning findings, in particular highlighting any ‘high risk’ pupils to the pastoral team. The platform also provides a forum for pupils to share any general thoughts, concerns or worries virtually, removing the barrier of having to approach a member of staff or teacher in person.

The embracing of new digital monitoring techniques like Govox alongside more traditional elements of pastoral care such as house parents and onsite counsellors, is a clear example of the ongoing advancement in methods that allow effective supporting of mental, alongside physical wellbeing at Stowe. In embracing these new digital strategies, Stowe are now able to reach the whole cohort, enabling students who struggle to speak up if they are experiencing mental health issues, to have an accessible platform through which to get support. 

“Govox was introduced to us through the LooseHeadz initiative. We had a system in place that offered regular check-ins for our pupils. However, this was not providing us with transparent information that Stoics and tutors could relate easily to. The Govox team has worked closely with our Pastoral team to create a series of questions, asked at regular intervals throughout the term, that allow us to capitalise on our pupils’ use of technology. The red flag system then allows us to triage any issues at an early stage and be proactive rather than reactive to mental health issues.”   Liam Copley, Senior Deputy Head 

Stowe’s approach and emphasis on pastoral support, centres around the premise that a happy, healthy and contented student will be more likely to have the capabilities to thrive and contribute productively and successfully to society in later life.  

In establishing an understanding and awareness of the importance of discussing mental health, Stowe and Govox are nurturing the future generation of empathetic leaders, who will bring a more inclusive approach to mental health as they enter the workplace and raise families of their own in the years to come. 

In their first term of using the digital platform, Stowe has discovered a number of interesting insights. For example…  

1. 97.5% of students are checking in with the platform, proving that the Govox platform has landed well and is trusted by the Stoics.

2. The Happiness Index* is tracking favourably, with a rolling average of 75.6% which puts Stowe in the top decile of Independent Schools being tracked by Govox.

3. To date, 795 individual pieces of student wellbeing feedback have been received, enabling the Pastoral team to proactively triage any Stoics in need of further support.

 Stowe’s collaboration with Govox exemplifies how the combination of digital methods alongside more traditional methods of pastoral care can ensure all students’ mental health is cared for.