Council and democracy

Pupils celebrate National Healthy School Status

To mark their achievement, Croydon Council has organised a special awards ceremony at Addington Palace on Thursday 19 June where the Mayor, Councillor Jonathan Driver, will present pupils and teachers from the following schools with a plaque and certificate:

• Forestdale Primary School
• Howard Primary School
• Woodside Children's Centre and Infant School
• Selsdon Primary School
• Coulsdon Church of England Primary School
• Duppas Junior School
• Davidson Primary School
• Edenham High School
• Harris Academy at South Norwood
• Virgo Fidelis Preparatory School
• Woodcote High School.

The National Healthy Schools Programme is designed to improve the health and welfare of pupils, staff and the whole school community. Most schools will already have good working practices in areas such as healthy eating and exercise, but by taking part in the programme they can build on these and develop long-lasting new policies.

To qualify for National Healthy School Status they have to demonstrate achievement in four areas:

• personal, social and health education
• healthy eating
• physical activity
• emotional health and well-being.

They must also show how they have involved the whole school community in the initiative.

Schools will have met the criteria in different ways. At many there has been an increase in pupils participating in physical activity with 92% of children at Woodside Children's Centre and Infant school reporting that they enjoy PE. Edenham High School provides specially designed PE clubs to encourage girls' participation and these are well attended.

In response to the concerns about the rise in childhood obesity schools are educating their pupils to eat more healthily. Salad bars are now a common feature in many dining halls at lunchtime. At Coulsdon C of E this has proved very popular and virtually every child makes use of this facility. Duppas Junior School provides water bottles for their children to use and this prevents them from becoming dehydrated and aids their concentration.

Having a planned programme to develop emotional health and well-being has been of benefit to many pupils. At Forestdale Primary the children report that this helped them to become more confident and able to express their feelings on a range of issues. At Davidson Primary pupils say they are better at co-operating with other children and know who to talk to if they have a problem.

Croydon Council's cabinet member for children's services and adult learning, Councillor Maria Gatland, said: "Children's physical and emotional health is of vital importance in helping create happy, well-rounded individuals so I am delighted that even more of Croydon's schools have achieved National Healthy School Status. The awards are well-deserved recognition for all the hard work undertaken by staff, teachers, parents and pupils."