If you have any problems finding information on GfL regarding Healthy Schools please contact Claire Stephens on 01539 713502 or email claire.stephens@cumbriacc.gov.uk.

For a direct link to the Change for Life Website, click here.  

Interactive quiz which offers health and lifestyle information for 12 - 15 year olds.  Can be completed confidentially through simple multiple choice questions.  Click here.

The National Healthy School Standard (NHSS) was launched in 1999.  Cumbria Healthy Schools was set up in September 2000 as a local programme of the NHSS.  The initiative is jointly funded by the DCSF and the Department of Health.

Every local authority in the England has a Healthy Schools partnership with its Primary Care Trust(s) and this employs a local programme coordinator and healthy schools coordinators.

 

The Programme for National Healthy Schools today is very different from its launch in 1999.  There is now one National Healthy Schools Programme with one National Healthy School Status.  National strategy documents and statutory changes such as the DfES Five Year Plan, the Healthy Living Blueprint, the Choosing Health White Paper and the National Service Framework for Children have all put processes in place which have changed and strengthened the position of the National Healthy Schools Programme.

Most importantly, Every Child Matters has impacted on the organisation of children's services, expctations of local authorities and schools and the perception of the National Healthy School Status as a critical delivery note.

The National Healthy Schools Programme is funded by the DCSF and the Department of Health, with a regional and local network.

By 2009 the Government wants every school in the country to be working towards achieving National Healthy School Satus.

A Healthy School promotes the health and well-being of its pupils and staff through a well planned, taught curriculum experienced in a physical and emotional environment that promotes learning and healthy lifestyle choices. A Healthy School achieves national standards that demonstrate a key contribution to the education and health priorities found in the outcomes of Every Child Matters.

From September 2005, Ofsted will expect schools to demonstrate how they are contributing to the five national outcomes for children stipulated by Every Child Matters and the Children Act 2004 -being healthy; staying safe; enjoying and achieving; making a positive contribution; and economic wellbeing.

Gaining national Healthy School status provides rigorous evidence of this, and will assist schools in evidencing their self-evaluation form (SEF) and completing the new school profile.

The NHSP builds on what schools have been doing for several years. The criteria set out in each theme complement existing and increasingly mainstreamed efforts to promote PSHE, physical activity, healthy eating, and emotional health and wellbeing in the school setting. Schools that are already participating in such work may not need to devote any extra resources but will be able to consolidate existing good practice.

Click here for more information on the national healthy schools standard four key themes.

Evidence from phase one of the National Healthy Schools Programme (NHSP) showed that schools involved in the programme were improving faster in terms of health behaviours than other schools. They scored higher on 9 out of 11 Ofsted indicators. Children and young people report a range of positive outcomes such as feeling less likely to be bullied, feeling as though they have more of a say in the running of the school and enjoying it more.

Click Clive to access the CC Moodle