National Healthy Schools Programme


The National Healthy Schools Programme was a joint Department of Health and Department for Children, Schools and Families project intended to improve health, raise pupil achievement, improve social inclusion and encourage closer working between health and education providers in the United Kingdom.
The Programme started in 1998 and formed part of the strategy described in the Department for Children, Schools and Families' and in the Department of Health's .
It had four themes, each with its own criteria:
The National Healthy Schools Status is an award made under the scheme to schools which have achieved the four criteria.
The school must undergo a self validation as follows:-
The Government has set a target for all schools to work towards achieving National Healthy Schools Status, more than 97% are participating in the scheme and 75% achieved this by December 2009.
The system was created and designed technically by contractor Eugene Le Roux with 'systems' design input from National Healthy Schools Programme National Adviser Stuart G. Hall.