Government health and education officers recently completed an extensive wellness survey of Bermuda's middle and high school children, The Royal Gazette can reveal.

While the officers refused to release the results, they say the Island's children will benefit from the examination that tested everything from stress to self-perception.

Although the survey was initiated by Government nutritionists Mellonie Barnum and Cymone Hollis, nearly every agency that deals with students took part in the massive one-year long survey and questioned over 3,000 students.

Parents and volunteers flooded to the schools to assist in the survey, which targeted 11 to 18-year-olds, said Ms Barnum.

Speaking to The Royal Gazette, she said there had been a lot of speculation in the past about child health in Bermuda and this survey would establish a "base line" for programme development.

"Because we decided to look, we found the base line data on where Bermuda children are and we know what we need to address. That's when you develop your programmes and policies," she said.

"There's been a lot of speculation but it's just been a lot of speculation," she added.

"You have to listen to what is happening to be able to decide where you go next. We have a lot of ideas and concepts now and we're about to know what direction we need to take," she said.

"What we've done, is decided to listen to the students and find out where the problems really are," she added.

Six-page reports are being delivered to each student as well as an overall report to the health and physical education teachers in addition to the school principal.

Ms Hollis hopes some of the reports will be shared with the various parent-teacher associations around the Island. The process began a little over a year ago, when Dr. Leonard Gibbons, Government's Health Promotion Officer, along with Ms Barnum and Ms Hollis, secured the funding. They even went so far as to localise the exam with answers such as majorettes, gombeys and demographic studies such as parishes.

The Personal Wellness Profile was developed using guidelines from organisations such as: the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education and Dance; American College of Sports and Medicines and the University of North Carolina.

"We can teach a healthy lifestyle but kids aren't going to get it unless it's practically implemented. We would like to see every school with a strong physical educational programme," said Ms Barnum.