May 24, 2013
Healthy Schools
We want all children and young people to be healthy and achieve at school and in life. We believe that providing opportunities at LWA for enhancing emotional and physical aspects of health will, in the longer term, lead to improved health, reduced health inequalities, increased social inclusion and raised achievement for all.
What are the benefits and purpose of becoming a Healthy School
The National Healthy Schools Programme (NHSP) is funded by the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) and the Department of Health, with a regional and local network. The Government set a target that all schools will be participating in the programme by December 2009 and that 75% of schools must have achieved National Healthy Schools status by then.
The purpose of the scheme is to ensure that health education becomes an integrated part of the school curriculum and that the wider community is involved in its planning, implementation, evaluation and celebration. The intended outcomes are that there will be measurable improvements in both health and education in the school and wider community.
A Healthy School promotes physical and emotional health by providing accessible and relevant information and equips pupils with the understanding, skills and attitudes to make informed decisions about their health. It is a school that understands the importance of investing in health to help pupils do their best, raise levels of achievement and improve standards.
There are four strategic aims of the National Healthy Schools Programme:
- To support children and young people in developing healthy behaviours
- To help raise student achievement
- To help reduce health inequalities
- To help promote social inclusion
These aims can be achieved through a whole-school approach which enables schools to have an opportunity to develop an effective framework for the planning and implementation of health education across the whole-school community. Work carried out through the scheme will enable LWA to improve both the quality of teaching and learning and to enhance relationships between the academy, students, parents, staff, governors and external agencies.
Since September 2005, Ofsted expects schools to demonstrate how they are contributing to the five national outcomes for children as set out in Every Child Matters: Change for Children (2004):
- Be healthy
- Stay safe
- Enjoy and achieve
- Make a positive contribution
- Achieve economic well-being
The NHSP also supports the targets within the following national priorities:
- Improving behavior and attendance
- Improving performance in national standard attainment tests (SATs)
- Reducing and halting the increase in childhood obesity
- Promoting positive sexual health and reducing teenage pregnancy
- Reducing young people’s drug, alcohol and tobacco use
