Forest Primary gets healthy school award

Wednesday 18 April 2018

Forest Primary School has been presented with a Guernsey Healthy Schools award by Lady Corder during a special assembly.

The school is the third to achieve the new Guernsey award, which is a testament to the importance placed on well-being throughout the whole school, which has 170 pupils.

Deputy Matt Fallaize, President of the Committee for Education, Sport and Culture was also in attendance at the special assembly where the children talked about all the things they had learnt and presented a movement piece choreographed to 'This is me', from the Greatest Showman.

WATCH: Forest primary school perform 'music and movement' to 'This is me'.

The Healthy Schools programme is designed to support and strengthen schools’ PSHE curriculum and to enable schools to audit their practice and celebrate the good work they are doing to support and develop young people’s health and wellbeing. 

The day started as every other day at the school with the daily mile starting at 8:50, with Express joining Mr Paul, Mrs Whitehead and the rest of the school staff and all pupils for a walk around the school grounds.

Deputy head Mr Paul said: "It is great to have an energising start to the day and the children are definitely more alert and ready to learn. It is also good for the social side of the school as all years get together and you can see pupils from different years walking together."

Mrs Whitehead who has been instrumental in many of the activities echoed the social side of the school: The school council is made up of representatives from each year group and they come up with ideas and initiatives for the whole school. They recently came up with the characteristics needed to learn; curiosity, perseverance, innovation and independence were just some that were identified."

Pictured: Mrs Whitehead and Mr Paul

Healthy Schools also supports Guernsey’s Children and Young People’s Plan and Healthy Weight Strategy. The award includes standards that are required to be met in the following areas:

• Leadership and Management

• Policy Development

• Learning and Teaching, including PSHE (Personal, Social and Health Education), emotional health and wellbeing, physical activity and food and nutrition

• Giving children and young people a voice

• Partnerships and support services

The award requires a whole-school approach to be taken; engaging pupils, staff and the community. Over the past year, staff have assigned a grade to each criterion and they then submitted their document to the Healthy Schools Team for validation. Three members of the team visited the school for half a day to discuss the achievements and evidence submitted and verified that the standards had been met.

Pictured: Pupils at the special assembly

Pupil Charles Hendry, who is chairman of the school council, said: "It has been really good to talk about healthy eating and living and I definitely think that it has improved my learning."

Lauren Vickery, who is vice chair of the school council, told Express that we should have a biscuit based snack instead of chocolate as it was a bit healthier! She said: "The daily mile and other things have been good as they have made school a lot better and it is nice being with the whole school as we are like a big family. I keep active with my family as we do lots of bike rides."

Pictured: Charles Hendry and Lauren Vickery

Alun Williams, Lifelong Learning Manager, said: "We are delighted that Lady Corder has agreed to present the Guernsey Healthy Schools award to Forest Primary School. This will be the third award presented by Lady Corder and demonstrates that Guernsey schools are keen to evaluate their commitment to health and wellbeing for young people."

"The staff and pupils have worked extremely hard to meet all the criteria. We have been really impressed at the very high standards achieved. The recent inspection report for Forest Primary School demonstrates the commitment that they have shown to ensuring that being healthy is a cornerstone of pupils’ experience at Forest. For example the inspectors commented: 'The health and wellbeing of all children is central to the life and work of the school.'"

Pictured: Members of the school council with Lady Corder and Deputy Fallaize

Paula Sullivan, Headteacher of Forest Primary School, said: "We are absolutely delighted to receive the Healthy Schools Award and have everyone’s hard work and effort validated in this way. As always we will continue to prioritise the Health and Well-being of our school community."

Pictured main image: Charles Hendry and Lauren Vickery receiving the award on behalf of the school from Lady Corder