He continues, “This year Healthy Schools celebrates its tenth anniversary year, having established itself as one of the most popular, non-statutory government initiatives in English schools today. I think a major part of the reason for its success to date is that its ethos sits at ease with the reason why teachers, headteachers, nurses, and the broader school workforce do what they do. People go into education because they care about children and young people and want them to succeed in all aspects of their lives - and that includes them being physically and emotionally healthy.
“There is now undoubtedly a far greater appetite for the health and well-being agenda amongst schools than ever before, and the fact that more than 99% of schools are now working with us pays clear testament to that.
“The health and well-being agenda is a big presence in every aspect of school life today, and a major part of the programme’s legacy to date, is that activities which were once pioneering good practice - such as integrated PSHE education, healthy school dinners and children’s water bottles on desks - are now commonplace within the culture of our schools. And, this agenda is still growing.”
The publication of the recent Child Health Strategy, recent ministerial pushes on healthy eating, the publication of the 21st Century School system, the intention to make PSHE education statutory, and the introduction of the Ofsted pupil well-being indicators all highlight the Government’s continued and growing commitment to health and well-being within the school setting.
Richard Sangster continues, “Achieving the Children’s Plan absolutely depends on creating a school system which prepares every young person to make a success of their life, and although we’ve already achieved an enormous amount through the commitment of many schools and healthcare professionals, in the future, schools will have a more significant role to play in supporting children and young people to be healthy and make positive life choices.
“Successfully achieving long term behavioural change around major public health issues such as childhood obesity or teenage pregnancy is not something that can be easily achieved overnight. It’s a constant, long term challenge and one in which I believe the next phase of Healthy Schools will play a vital role. We’re certainly not asking teachers to suddenly become health or social work specialists, but we do recognise that schools that are working with Healthy Schools already have strong partnerships in place and are now well positioned to deliver aspects of health promotion and targeted support within the school environment.”
Helen Williams, Director of Curriculum and Pupil Wellbeing at the Department for Children, Schools and Families, explains the Government’s future plans:
“As the Government has begun to place an increasing emphasis on the health and well-being of children and young people, I think Healthy Schools has offered an invaluable framework of standards, good practice and tools to help schools evaluate what they are doing - its legacy is that the overall offering in our schools has been vastly improved.
“The next stage is to make good schools into really great schools, by engaging more closely with parents, personalising children’s learning, opening up school services to the wider community and increasing capacity through greater collaboration as we build towards our vision of the 21st Century School. This vision is really about recognising the growing role played by schools in supporting a range of children’s outcomes. In the future, schools will still be about education in the traditional sense, but will also focus on developing the whole child, by offering: more personalised education, a stronger focus on improving health and well-being, and a wider community resource to support whole families and communities.”
