The Healthy Schools award is such as worthy achievement for all the staff at St Peters who have remained committed throughout all the challenges of the past 18 months to establish a robust health agenda throughout the school.
The engagement with local as well as national programmes and initiatives reflect the priority and commitment of the school to constantly seek improvement and diversity in provision.
As part of and in addition to the Healthy Schools Award, the school has participated in / completed the following which is testimony of the hard work and commitment to ensuring the students gain the confidence, life skills and knowledge needed to make healthy life choices:
- Food Smart – and associated canteen improvements
- Opening Up Schools Facilities – to extend provision beyond the school day
- The Active Lives Survey
- Student Voice Activities and Dragon’s Den challenge – to empower the students to shape the future provision of PE and Physical Activity
- Active Travel Plan
- The Mental Health Competency Framework – to identify the mental health training needs of staff
- The Cambridgeshire Health Related Behaviour Survey
- NHS Health Checks for staff
For information on how to get involved in any of the above, simply email: [email protected]
Find out more about the school’s accreditation journey here:
Starting Out
1.Why did the school decide to pursue the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Healthy Schools Award?
We wanted to go above and beyond in our provision for our students and improving our practice via Healthy Schools guided us in doing so.
2. Was the initial step of completing the online audit of 30 Yes/No questions a suitable starting point? Was it achievable within the stated 15 minutes?
It was a useful starting point as it gave an overview of the areas to be focused on and was not laborious.
3. Was the online audit a useful tool in providing a quick assessment of the key points of action to take?
Yes, as our practice was already established in some areas but not all.
4. How beneficial was the opportunity to follow up the completion of the audit with an informal, virtual meeting with a member of the Healthy Schools team?
The benefit of being able to have virtual meetings with the Healthy Schools team has been invaluable for all the support and ideas provided.
The Journey Towards Accreditation
5. Having achieved an initial assessment of the key actions to take, did the provision of the more detailed point score document for the award help to structure the approach taken by the school?
It was very useful to have the sections of the award structured in this way and it guided us to the actions to be taken and also helped us reflect on our current practice.
6. What decisions were taken by the school to make progress against the standards and did the majority of the staff – teaching as well as non-teaching – get involved?
Having evaluated our current practice, we saw that the students and all staff would benefit from, amongst other things, a travel plan, canteen improvements, a greater focus on well-being and resilience, and these were supported by all staff involved.
7. Did the accreditation framework encourage a whole school approach to embedding a consistent and progressive health agenda?
All St Peter’s staff are offered a well-being package which has developed according to staff needs, post-Covid, and this has been supported by the Healthy Schools initiatives.
8. Was the point score document useful in both identifying evidence and monitoring progress and was the process of evidencing the standards manageable?
Yes, we could identify existing good practice, and identify areas to address. The process of evidencing standards was very achievable.
The Destination
9. What are the key benefits for the school having completed the accreditation journey?
The Health Schools values have been supportive in helping us focus on returning to full-time schooling after lock downs when both physical and mental well-being for all students and staff is of great importance.
10. Do you consider the work undertaken to have had an impact and do you consider this will be maintained and therefore long-lasting?
We aim to at least maintain these initiatives and via staff and student voice activities to develop them further depending on our needs.
11. In view of the recent changes to the Ofsted inspection Handbook and the inclusion of the following point:
“From the start of the summer term 2021, how a school meets the expectations of the DfE’s statutory guidance on relationships education, relationships and sex education and health education will contribute to the leadership and management judgement.” how relevant do you consider the standards of the award to be?
We have focused on meeting these expectations and the Healthy Schools standards have enhanced our provision of these.
12. Would you recommend the Healthy Schools Award to other schools, if so why?
Yes, both the process and the outcome are meaningful and positive, and have highlighted the importance of physical and mental wellbeing to students, staff, parents and governors.