Supporting Health and Wellbeing

Healthy Schools London

Healthy Schools London is an awards programme which recognises schools' achievement in supporting pupil health and wellbeing. To gain a bronze award the whole school must be committed to improving pupil’s health including Healthy Eating, Physical Activity, Emotional Wellbeing, Environment and PSHEE (personal, social, health, economic, education).

To gain silver and gold the school must have identified specific health problems in their school and shown how they have addressed these.  Schools that participate in health-based programmes can improve attainment, increase attendance and improve pupil confidence & concentration as well as improve health and wellbeing. Health Education Partnership has been commissioned by Barnet Public Health to provide free support to schools to assist them in achieving the Healthy Schools London (HSL) Awards.

For more information or to book a meeting with Health Education Partnership please contact Tania Barney at tania.barney@healtheducationpartnership.com, or visit Healthy schools London. 

 

Healthy Weight Programmes

Children and young people maintaining a healthy weight are important for the quality of life and the prevention of ill health and disease. We understand that every young person is different and therefore we have a range of healthy living initiatives available in the borough. Please visit Healthy Weight in Children & Young People for a list of free services available for young people living in Barnet.

 

Healthy Eating

Healthy eating is essential for children & young people’s optimal health, growth & development, including the prevention of diseases in later life. Healthy eating supports weight management and academic performance.

To support this, there are statutory school food standards set by the Government to ensure that food provided to pupils in school is nutritious and of high quality; to promote good nutritional health in all pupils; protect those who are nutritionally vulnerable and promote good eating behaviour. Promoting healthy eating and providing nutritious school food throughout the day are crucial ways that schools can influence children & young people’s health and well-being.

A variety of local support to promote healthy eating and/or school food provision is available through different projects, initiatives, and campaigns such as:

School Food

Barnet Public Health, in 2022, started the School Food Standards project to support schools to improve statutory school food standards adherence, provide high-quality food provision and a school food environment that adds to efforts of building a healthy weight culture within Barnet schools as part of a whole systems approach. A mapping activity & other research was conducted to gain a better understanding of the local state of school food. Findings are summarised in the School Food Evidence Report 2022.   

We are currently developing a collaborative School Food Support Plan to provide a strategic & holistic outlook on areas that support should cover to improve Barnet School Food.  

Project activities and resources: 

  • Barnet School Food Audit 2023 (PDF, 0.3Mb)

    A 2 pronged approach (desk-based research and school mealtime observations for example), was used to audit Barnet state schools’ food and drink provision and secondary school food environments, in line with statutory school food standards and best practice recommendations  

  • Developed a School Food Support Steering Group that meets termly- Relevant stakeholders are welcome such as local young people, catering companies, health organisations, parents, and school leadership. If you would like to be involved, please get in touch

  • We have launched a Healthy Packed Lunches Campaign. Resources from this campaign. Packed lunch policy guidance and toolkit documents 

  • Local research has also highlighted challenges that schools face when choosing and managing school food catering contracts. Considering this, two school food contract management webinars were organised. Access the webinar recordings: 1) Primary 2) Secondary 

Physical Activity

Children and young people aged 5 to 18 require on average at least 60 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity a day across the week to develop movement skills, muscles, and bones. Schools can support physical activity in a variety of ways:

  • Promote greenspaces- 41% of Barnet has green space coverage, with a park or open space within one mile of many homes. Therefore, there are plenty of green spaces that can be promoted to families and can be used by schools for physical activity. Visit the Barnet Council directory to find your closest park and open space.
  • Promote active travel- Walking, cycling & scootering to school helps children & young people be more physically active, reduces air pollution due to fewer cars on the road and supports anti-idling. Barnet has one of the highest numbers of schools awarded STARS (Sustainable Travel to and from their school that is Active, Responsible and Safe) accreditation from TfL. For more information or to sign up, please visit https://stars.tfl.gov.uk/. Also, check out the council’s School travel and transport webpage. If you require support with your school travel plan, please contact schooltravelplans@barnet.gov.uk
  • Barnet Partnership for Schools Sports- Offers curriculum support and a range of activities to encourage pupils to engage in physical activity and sports across the borough. 
  • Promote home activities & the FAB hub - Please visit the FAB Hub for local activities and services available to children & young people in Barnet.
  • GLL Activate Assemblies- for more information please contact xplore.barnet@gll.org.

Sign up for school-based activity schemes such as the Barnet Golden Kilometre and the Daily Mile.

 

Personal, Social, Health, and Economic Education (PSHE)

Effective delivery of PSHE/RSE education helps pupils to achieve their academic potential and provides a broad and balanced life-skills learning programme.

School zone offers a range of flexible resources across different subject areas – designed for use throughout the school year to encourage pupils to build healthier habits for life.

The PSHE Association is a membership association and charity, we support over 50,000 teachers and schools with resources, training, guidance, and advice.

Barnet Public Health, through the Health Education Partnership (HEP), is supporting Primary and Secondary schools to deliver effective PSHE curricula. For more information about local support with the delivery of PSHE, including access to expert advice, networking, training, and resources, please visit Barnet Council PSHE. 

For example, as part of Barnet's All About Periods campaign (which aims to raise awareness and reduce period stigma and period poverty amongst local children and young people), a school toolkit with resources to support delivering high quality period education and a period friendly school environment in your setting is now available. Download the All About Periods School Toolkit

 

Mental Health

Mental Health is as important as physical health for children & people. Positive mental health and well-being of children and young people are vital due to a strong association with academic success, relationship development and the ability to overcome challenges individuals may face (Mental Health Foundation, 2018). To support mental health & wellness in schools, NICE (the National Institute of Clinical Excellence) recommends a whole-school approach is taken (NICE 2022).

For support and resources to build mental health and emotional resilience in your school, please visit the Barnet Resilient Schools Programme. The Resilient Schools Kitemark is also available to those who complete the programmes core components.  Please note that if you are applying for your Healthy Schools London silver/gold award and want to use improving mental health and wellness as your focus, you can use the Resilient Schools (RS) Programme to help you achieve this and achieve the RS kitemark (by completing the RS programme core components). For more information about the Resilient Schools programme, please get in touch.

Other useful services include:

 

Asthma-friendly schools (AFS)

AFS is a national programme which sets out clear, effective partnership arrangements between health, education, and local authorities for managing children and young people with asthma at primary and secondary schools. A programme guide is available to download. To find out more please visit Asthma Friendly Schools.