Immediate and diary: 5pm, 13/07/05
Healthy School Award Fighting Fit
More than 35 schools from across Oldham will come together next week to attend the 2005 Healthy School Award Ceremony.
Schools who have achieved accreditation in the Oldham Healthy School Programme, the Eco Schools Award and Travel Plans will receive their certificates from players from Oldham Roughyeds.
The nationally-accredited Oldham Healthy Schools Programme aims to enable schools to become healthier places for staff and pupils to work and learn.
The programme is open to all primary and secondary schools in Oldham and works towards the Government’s National Healthy School Standard, which is a joint initiative between the Department for Education and Skills and the Department of Health.
The awards recognise those schools that have achieved the various stages of the programme over the last year.
In Oldham, the programme is a partnership between Oldham LEA, Oldham Primary Care Trust and Positive Steps Oldham, the local independent sector organisation that delivers a range of young people’s services.
Run by Groundwork Oldham, Eco Schools aim is to make sustainable development a part of the life and ethos of schools. Designed to fit into the curriculum, it's an award scheme that gets everyone in the school community involved in making the school environment better.
Travel Plans is a Greater Manchester-wide initiative aiming to reduce the number of car journeys made, by providing people with greater choice. Through it, schools in Oldham are working to make journeys to school safer for their pupils.
Helping schools celebrate the event will be:
- Nick Hudson, Assistant Director of Education and Culture
- Alan Higgins, Director of Public Health, Oldham Primary Care Trust
- Tim Mitchell, Chief Executive, Positive Steps Oldham
- Bill Edwards, Chair, Environment Partnership Oldham Healthy Schools
Programme co-ordinator Linda Devlin said: ‘This awards ceremony acknowledges the hard work that many of Oldham’s schools have put into working towards the National Healthy School Standard, Eco Schools and Travel Plans.
“All of these schemes recognise the important role that a school can play in helping students do their best and build on their achievements. The benefits of creating a healthy environment are well-documented and include better academic results and better life choices for students and improved all-round performance for schools.’
Alan Higgins, Director of Public Health said: “The healthy schools awards are a great way to encourage all schools to help children be healthy by looking at things including diet and exercise. It’s very important that we ensure children understand from a young age how to look after their health because of the benefits now and in later life.”
The Oldham Healthy Schools Programme is designed to support and complement the Personal Development Curriculum within schools and is just one element of the work of the Personal Development Curriculum Team, based at Positive Steps Oldham.
Ends
Notes for editors: The Awards Ceremony will take place on Wednesday, 13 July 2005 at the Centre for Professional Development, Rosary Road, Fitton Hill.
For more information contact Linda Devlin, Healthy Schools Co-ordinator on 0161 621 9370 or Andy Swain, Marketing and Information Manager, on 0161 621 9321.
