Addressing more than 100 Headteachers at ‘Health and Wellbeing in the 21st Century School', a conference at Ossett High School in Wakefield, Ed Balls highlighted the Government's vision for schools in the future which will better support children and young people with statutory health and wellbeing indicators.
As Healthy Schools, the joint Department of Health (DH) and Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) initiative, celebrates its tenth birthday year, plans were also outlined for the programme's next phase, in line with the Government's increasing emphasis on the widening role of schools as articulated in The Children's Plan and its vision of a 21st Century School.
Ed Balls, Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, said; "I am encouraged by schools' efforts and participation in initiatives like the National Healthy Schools Programme and Extended Schools and I want to pay tribute to the real difference they are making to children and young people's health and wellbeing.
"The Healthy Schools Programme is 10 years old this year. And it is today more relevant and more central to our agenda than ever before, because it's about the long-term health of the country.
"There are countless examples of creativity and innovation from schools in supporting the health and wellbeing of their pupils - and I have every confidence that Healthy Schools will continue to provide vital support to schools as we move forwards, building towards our ambition for the 21st Century School."
Today, 98% of our schools are participating in the programme, and over 4 million children - in 72% of our schools - are enjoying the benefits of attending a Healthy School.
With the programme on target to not only meet, but exceed, the Government's challenging goal for all schools to be working towards National Healthy Schools Status by December 2009, and 75% of schools to have achieved National Healthy School Status by the same date, plans for extending the programme are already underway.
These plans include a closer alignment with Extended Schools, and will help to shape the programme's future as an important delivery vehicle for the Government's vision of the 21st Century School.
Richard Sangster, Head of the National Healthy Schools Programme, said; "Today there are countless examples of creativity and innovation from healthy schools in supporting the health and wellbeing of their pupils, and the Programme's success and longevity is due in no small part to the dedication and hard work of its Local Programmes, and thanks to the commitment, enthusiasm and vision of many headteachers throughout the country.
"Schools that have achieved National Healthy School Status are acknowledged as already contributing to the wider role which schools will play in the future. As we move forwards into the next stage of Healthy Schools, we will continue to build upon existing work, as well as providing leadership in translating the vision of a 21st Century School into practice.
"To this end we will be strengthening our partnership with Extended Schools in order to better support schools in achieving health outcomes for children and young people, and to enhance the core offer available to the whole school community. From September 2009, we will also be seeking to invite schools that have already achieved National Healthy School Status to move on to the next stage of development."
This next stage of development will ask schools to reflect and continue to build upon the 41 criteria which they have already met in order to become Healthy Schools, to put in plans to meet the proposed pupil wellbeing indicators, and to move towards developing a three-year plan that embeds an outcomes based model for both universal and targeted health interventions.
This will be a mixture of school-based, local and national priorities which will be flexibly developed by schools in conjunction with key partners including Children's and Young People's Services, Primary Care Trusts, parents/carers and children and young people themselves.
