All of us involved with young people are trying to achieve a healthy population of individuals who can think for themselves, make informed choices about their lives and who can enjoy life. National Healthy School Status is a celebration of this work.

There is an explicit link between health and achievement, and Healthy Schools can be the means with which we engage children and young people in the process of thinking about health. National Healthy School Status offers uniformity of criteria to judge the 'Health' of a school and also is a nationally recognised and valued status.

Parents now have a bigger part to play in the process as stakeholders within the school and information to support parents is available through the National website.

Schools can use their National Healthy School Status (NHSS) in their Self Evaluation Form (SEFframework.pdf 40kb). It can also be used in any inspection to demonstrate how being accredited to NHSS enables them to meet the outcomes of the Every Child Matters (external web-link) agenda. The online audit is an excellent place to start an audit of school provision and effectiveness, and so identify gaps in provision that can subsequently be met in collaboration with the Healthy Schools team. Contact the team for information and a password.

The aims of the programme are:

• To support children and young people in developing healthy behaviours
• Helping to raise pupil achievement
• Helping to reduce health inequalities
• Helping to promote social inclusion

Being a Healthy School will not only make a difference to the learning, health and behaviour of children and young people in your school but it also helps deliver the five national outcomes of Every Child Matters. A copy of the Cross Referencing Document can be downloaded from here. (ECM.pdf 100kb)

(Wired For Health Link)

Evidence from the first phase of the programme showed that amongst the positive outcomes of being a Healthy School, children and young people said that they enjoyed school more, felt less likely to be bullied and felt that they had more of a say in the running of the school. Evidence also show that Healthy schools achieved better in national tests.

Schools involved in this programme have been shown to score higher on Ofsted indicators. The Ofsted SEF asks schools to outline achievements and areas for development and being a Healthy School addresses many aspects of the form. Remember that this process builds on what is already in place in your school.

The whole school focus on health that the programme promotes helps address the three major national health priorities:

1. Reducing and halting the increase in childhood obesity
2. Reducing teenage pregnancy and improving sexual health
3. Reducing young people's drug alcohol and tobacco use

The Herefordshire Healthy Schools Partnership works with the following partners:

PCT
Extended schools
SIS
Police
Fire and rescue service
School nursing
National Primary and Secondary Strategies
CAMHS

And then what?....
The National Healthy Schools Programme monitors all health related work that schools do and this information is logged on the National Healthy Schools database. This evidence may be accessed by a variety of agencies to assess the extent to which contributions are being made towards the outcomes of Every Child Matters. Locally the team will arrange for the school to be presented with a certificate for each of the four themes, and at the end of the academic year there will be an event at which schools will be presented with their award. The team will continue working with the school to ensure updates and continuing good practice and professional development for the staff.