The Boxall Profile®
This unique online tool assesses the social, emotional and mental development of pupils aged 4-18. It provides you with a precise picture of a pupil’s strengths, as well as any difficulties which could affect their learning.
Based on these results, the Boxall Profile® also tells you what type of support each pupil needs, providing you with practical strategies and techniques for the classroom or nurture group to help them achieve their full potential.
The leading assessment tool of its kind, first developed in England and now in countries across the world, the Boxall Profile® is used by over half of UK schools that assess their pupils’ mental health.
Download our information leaflet now!
Why do we need to assess pupils’ wellbeing?
On average, over a third of pupils have some social, emotional or mental health (SEMH) need. For one in ten pupils, this need will be high, presenting as behavioural difficulties or diagnosable disorders like ADHD.
However, research in our Now You See Us study suggests that another quarter of pupils will have moderate SEMH needs, which are much harder for teachers to identify, but which can have a significant impact on pupils’ learning.
Using the Boxall Profile® is the best way to identify and address these hidden issues, to ensure that every child and young person gets the support they need to engage fully with their education.
Boxall Profile® assessments are not designed as a diagnostic tool for specific mental health conditions, learning difficulties or developmental difficulties. Instead, assessments are designed to help professionals understand and work more effectively with children and young people, in a way that's sensitive to the needs of the child or young person being assessed.
What are the benefits of using the Boxall Profile®?
Identify and address pupils’ needs earlier
The Boxall Profile® helps you to interpret pupils’ behaviour, so you can spot issues sooner, and reduce their impact on children’s learning.
Understand what support pupils need and when
The tool allows you to develop a bespoke support plan, tailored to the specific needs of each pupil, which you can track and review.
Develop more targeted policies and budgets
A clear overview of pupils’ needs across an entire school enables you to develop policies and spending plans that support at-need children more effectively.
How do I get started?
To try out the Boxall Profile® Online, visit www.boxallprofile.org. Once you’ve registered, we’ll send you a token for a free SEMH assessment.
The Boxall Profile® is easy to use, but we recommend training at least one member of your staff in using the tool, to make sure your school is getting the most benefit from it. We offer training for both beginners and advanced users.
Please note: if you can’t access the Boxall Profile® Online, you can also buy paper assessments (which are also known as ‘inserts’) in our shop.
The whole-school Boxall approach
You can use the Boxall Profile® Online in a targeted way, to assess individual pupils, but assessing an entire school population is the best way to ensure that every pupil is getting the support they need.
In a recent study on this approach, teachers used the Boxall Profile® to assess 6,800 pupils. They found that 10% had high SEMH needs, but a further 26% had moderate SEMH needs which were often hidden, and which wouldn’t have been identified without the Boxall Profile®.
Based on these results, 92% of the schools that assessed all their pupils felt that the project was worthwhile, and recommended the approach to other schools.
What do teachers say about the Boxall Profile®?
Primary School Headteacher
"The Boxall Profile helped us to identify where a child is in different areas in their development. It helped staff to look more perceptively, to think where does this behaviour come from?"
Primary School Teacher
"When we [assessed] the whole school, there were children that were highlighted that… we’d never done any work with because they present as quiet and calm within school. But actually, they had more of a deep-rooted problem."
Essential reading
The Boxall Profile® Handbook Revised, by Marion Bennathan and Marjorie Boxall.
This is suitable for children in primary school settings, from ages 4 to 11.
The Boxall Profile® for Young People, by Marion Bennathan, Marjorie Boxall and David Colley.
This is suitable for young people in secondary school settings, from ages 11 to 19.