15 September 2010
Trinity and St Mary primary schools have become the most recent Jersey schools to be recognised for their work in developing and promoting health in schools with a National Healthy Schools Status award.
The Healthy Schools programme, which is jointly supported by Education, Sport and Culture and Health and Social Services, involves students, staff, parents and the wider community working together to reach standards of good practice in schools.
To celebrate their achievement, students, staff and parents at both schools will be holding events on Friday 17 September where they will be presented with a certificate and plaque.
St Mary’s primary school will be embarking on a healthy walk to Crabbé, where they will be presented with the award at 11.45am. Trinity primary school will be presented with their award by members of the Jersey Rugby team at 1.30pm at Riley Field, followed by a community aerobics session and a walk through their nature trail.
The National Healthy School Awards recognises that schools have developed good practice in promoting health across 4 key focus areas:
- Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE)
- healthy eating
- Emotional Health and Wellbeing (EH&WB)
- physical activity
Headteacher of Trinity School, Nichola Turner, said "We’re very proud to receive our Healthy Schools award. Keeping fit and healthy has always played a significant role in our curriculum, but the Healthy Schools approach is much more far-reaching – it values the pupil’s contribution, it raises their self-esteem and safeguards their wellbeing.
“Children learn best when they’re healthy, happy and confident. By embarking on the Healthy Schools journey we have empowered our pupils to make informed decisions about keeping themselves healthy, which should have a positive impact on their future lives.”
Headteacher of St Mary’s school, Linda McKenzie, agreed “We’re delighted to have achieved Healthy School status. Our journey so far has been a real community effort involving children, parents and staff and is a good example of the Health and Education Department’s working together to promote the wellbeing of students.”