St Peter’s leads the way with Health Promotion
Monday, June 29 2009
Health and wellbeing is embedded in life at St Peter’s primary school in Galashiels as it becomes the first primary school in the Scottish Borders to reach phase two of the Health Promoting Schools (HPS) accreditation scheme.
HPS aims to encourage a whole-school approach to promoting the physical, social, spiritual, mental and emotional wellbeing of all pupils and staff.
Most schools across the region have reached phase one of the scheme and are moving towards phase two. This means they have identified areas for improvement within their school and have included them in their school improvement plans. St Peter’s primary school is officially the first school to complete all the actions in their school improvement plans to achieve phase two.
SBC’s Health Promoting Schools Co-ordinator Frances Price said: “I am delighted with all the work that the pupils, staff and the wider community of St Peter’s Primary School have done to reach phase two. They have worked really hard in order to achieve this. Health and wellbeing are vital for life and learning the skills of how to keep yourself healthy are especially important for children and young people in our schools.”
To achieve phase two, St Peter’s carried out many activities including forming a health group, developing a calendar of health and wellbeing events for the year and redecorating the school’s front entrance.
Executive Member for Education, Councillor Catriona Bhatia, added: “I have visited every school in the Borders and have been impressed by the emphasis which is placed on health promotion. The achievements of our schools so far are setting the foundations for the future health of the region and I look forward to seeing many other schools continuing with their great work to achieve this standard.”
The pupil council at St Peter’s is presently involved in looking at redesigning the playground and the school’s Eco Patrol is responsible for all bins and composting facilities for apple cores, banana skins etc.
Photograph: Health Co-ordinator - Janet Cass with pupils Katie Simpson, Shannon Brown, Michael Birtwistle and Cuillin Melrose.
Editors’ Notes
The Schools (Health Promotion and Nutrition) (Scotland) Act 2007 places a duty on local authorities to ensure that all of their schools are health promoting environments.
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