National Healthy Schools Programme

The National Healthy Schools Programme (NHSP) promotes the link between good health, behaviour and achievement through four key areas: healthy eating; physical activity; personal, social and health education (PSHE); and emotional health and well-being 1. The previous government set targets for the number of schools achieving National Healthy School Status, which involved meeting a minimum number of criteria. The current government has committed to support the NHSP by providing information toolkits, however implementation and monitoring will now be on a ‘schools-led’ basis 2,3.

Evidence for possible benefits:

A review of international studies found evidence that healthy schools programmes can lead to increased health-related knowledge and activities, however there was less evidence for a link between healthy schools programmes and changes in health behaviours 4.

The same review looked at evaluations of UK NHSPs, and found the following associated changes 4:

• Improved PSHE curriculum and more effective PSHE teaching
• Improved social awareness and pupil participation
• Healthier food options, increased access to drinking water and breakfast clubs
• Improved environments, play facilities and opportunities for physical activity
• Improved pupil behaviour, attitudes, confidence and concentration
• Healthier pupil food choices, more physical activity
• Improved pupil understanding of sex and relationship issues
• Improved staff awareness of health-related issues
• Positive influence on levels of achievement, attendance and exclusion

It is not known if the NHSP results in improved health outcomes in children.

Evidence for possible risks:

There is not yet evidence for how the change in organisation of the NHSP will affect health. It is possible that the removal of national control and reporting mechanisms may lead to de-prioritisation of this initiative within schools, which could put the achievements of the NHSP at risk.

Implications for health & well-being:

There is evidence that the NHSP is associated with improvement in health-promoting environments in schools; increases in health knowledge, choices and activities; and improved general behaviour and achievement in pupils. It is not known if these improvements in environment, knowledge, choices and behaviours actually result in improved health.

It is not known what effect the change in organisation of the NHSP with have on these improvements, however if the initiative is de-prioritised by schools as a result of the organisational changes then some of the programme’s benefits may be lost.

Author: Flora Ogilvie MBBS BSc, Specialist Registrar Public Health, LKSS Deanery

UK area affected: England only

References:

1. National healthy schools programme. Local Government Improvement and Development. (webpage) http://www.idea.gov.uk/idk/core/page.do?pageId=8709960 accessed on 01.04.11.

2. Healthy lives, healthy people: Our strategy for public health in England. Her Majesty’s Government. London, 2010. http://www.dh.gov.uk/prod_consum_dh/groups/dh_digitalassets/@dh/@en/@ps/documents/digitalasset/dh_122347.pdf accessed on 01.04.11.

3. Healthy schools. Department for Education. (webpage) http://www.education.gov.uk/childrenandyoungpeople/healthandwellbeing/a0075278/healthy-schools accessed on 01.04.11.

4. National Healthy Schools Programme: Developing the Evidence Base, Thomas Coram Research Unit, Institute of Education, University of London, 2009. http://www.ioe.ac.uk/TCRU_HlthySchlEvBase_FinRep.pdf accessed on 01.04.10