Local alternative education provision awarded Healthy Schools Status
Tuesday 30 June 2009
Waltham Forest's alternative education
provision programme, Vision and Focus12 was awarded Healthy Schools
Status last Thursday (25 June) making it the first alternative
provision of its kind to fulfil all the criteria for the Healthy
Schools Standard.
Healthy Schools Status is a long-term government initiative that
promotes the links between health, behaviour and achievement by
emphasising the importance of physical activity, healthy eating,
emotional well-being and PSHE education. In order to be eligible
for the award, the Vision and Focus12 team had to pass a rigorous
audit of the four areas. A Healthy Schools audit team examined
several projects, including film making, food preparation and
presentations produced by students.
While all alternative education provisions are charged with
attaining Healthy Schools Status by 2012, progress among many
providers has been slow to date. The success of Vision and Focus12
in achieving the status well ahead of time is attributed to the
genuine effort and determination of a wide range of people and
organisations.
Nik Smith, the Vision and Focus12 Project Manager, said 'It has
been the combined efforts of the Change for Children team, all of
the staff and students of Vision and Focus12, and NCB's based Life
Routes Award over two years which has resulted in this incredibly
impressive achievement.'
Sarah Thistle of Change for Children presented awards to staff
and students of the programme at the award ceremony on the day and
said: "This is a really exciting day for students and staff as you
are the first alternative provision provider of your kind to
achieve this status.'
More than 97% of schools nationally are now involved in the
Healthy Schools programme and over 70% of schools have achieved
National Healthy School Status. This translates to around four
million children and young people currently enjoying the benefits
of attending a Healthy School.
ENDS
Notes to Editors
NCB's mission is to advance the well-being of all children and
young people across every aspect of their lives. As a
membership and infrastructure support agency for the children's
sector in England and Northern Ireland, NCB provides essential
information on policy, research and best practice for our members
and the members of our wide range of partnership bodies which
operate under our charitable status and are based in our London
headquarters. For further information visit http://www.ncb.org.uk/
Life Routes builds young people's self-confidence and awareness
of their own potential through project and team based learning. The
programme is managed by NCB and funded by Nokia. For more
information on Life Routes, see http://www.liferoutes.org.uk/.
For more information on programmes funded and supported by Nokia,
see http://www.nokia.co.uk/
For further information contact: Clare Quarrell, Anna
Tombs, Clare Lilley - NCB Media Office
Tel: 020 7843 6044/6045/6047/07721 097033 Email:
media@ncb.org.uk