Healthy Schools Award

Healthy Schools

(Includes information on Personal, Social and Health Education, Healthy Eating, Physical Activity and Social, Emotional and Mental Health, School Council and British Values). 

 We are delighted to have maintained our Healthy Schools Status.  A Healthy School is one that promotes physical and emotional health by providing accessible relevant information which equips pupils, staff and families with the skills and attitudes to make informed decisions about their health. From recent media coverage there is increasing concern about rising rates of obesity, tooth decay and related health problems in children.  As a school it is part of our responsibility to help our children learn how to live a healthy lifestyle.

 Our aims

• To promote a whole school approach to a healthy lifestyle.
• To provide freshly cooked nutritious school meals in line with the School Food Standards
• To encourage children and staff to make informed decisions on a healthy lifestyle based on positive attitudes and up to date information.
• To create a safe environment for working and playing both inside and outside.
• To provide high quality Physical Education and School Sport and promote Physical Activity as part of a lifelong healthy lifestyle.
• To provide children with more choices as to how they use their playtime by the development of the school grounds and the introduction of play leaders.
• To encourage children to choose a healthy snack at morning break by providing a wide variety of healthy options of fruit.
• To support the ‘Fruit for Schools’ initiative by encouraging Foundation Stage and KS1 to eat one portion every day at break/snack time.
• To highlight the importance of drinking water by encouraging all pupils to have a water bottle in school.
• To give pupils a voice to influence change through our School Council.
• To help children develop greater confidence, motivation, self-esteem and have the skills, information and understanding to make important life and health choices.
• clear and consistent messages about food, drink and nutrition through the classroom setting, through the provision of food and drink and in all other aspects of school life and in conjunction with

Quality of the environment

We aim to provide a dining area which is a desirable place, promoting a social community, which is user friendly through children having enough time to eat their dinner. A new Lunchtime Behaviour system has been implemented to promote a positive lunchtime environment.

Breakfast
We will encourage young people to eat breakfast before attending school and we will promote the school’s breakfast club. Food served at the breakfast club will be in keeping with meeting the
Standards for school food other than lunch (http://www.schoolfoodplan.com/wpcontent/uploads/2015/01/School-Food-Standards-Guidance-FINAL-V3.pdf - page 11). Please ask in school for a copy of these standards.

Packed Lunches
We encourage parents/carers to provide pupils with a healthy, varied packed lunch each day, Healthy eating newsletters including information from packed lunch audits, packed lunch advice sheets, hosting demonstration/parent workshop. Sweetened drinks (including fruit juice and milkshakes) are not permitted at lunch times. Children can bring water or milk only (water is also freely available to all pupils in the dinner hall).

We also advise that for health and safety reasons, if grapes are sent in as a healthy snack, parents cut them lengthways to avoid choking. Children will not be served whole grapes in school. We are also a nut free school and do not permit any form of nuts in school.

Break-time Snacking, rewards and treats
We actively discourage children from consuming high fat, high sugar snacks, by offering healthier break time fruit. We do allow children to bring in a small amount of treats to share with the class for Birthdays, for example 1 small chocolate. We politely request that cakes are not brought in to school, due to the disruption caused and health and safety issues when cutting and distributing. Where possible, we will endeavour not to use food as a reward to avoid causing confusion for children and young people.

For children in EYFS and KS1, free fruit and vegetables are available each day. The fruit and vegetables are delivered to schools three times a week to ensure freshness. There is a choice of: bananas, apples, pears, carrots, tomatoes, easy-peel citrus fruits, such as satsumas. All the fruit and vegetables are washed before they are handed out, which is usually just before the mid-morning break, normally in individual class groups.

Water
Easily accessible fresh drinking water is made available to all pupils throughout the day. Fresh drinking water is also available for all children (whether they are on school dinners or packed lunch) at lunch times.

Food Allergy and Special Diets
The school has considered the needs of pupils with food allergies and developed appropriate procedures. We will ensure that affected children are not knowingly exposed to food allergens like nuts and seeds during school hours. The school also provides food in accordance with pupil’s beliefs, practices and medical requirements as required. New dietary requirements should be communicated to the school office immediately for them to notify the relevant staff members. When teaching about food and nutrition, we will consider the needs of pupils with food allergies and special diets. In order to minimise risk to children with allergies, no home cooked food is to be brought in to class to share, all food shared with children in class parties, etc. must have clearly labelled ingredients.

parents/carers.

We aim through education about food and drink to enable children and young people to make healthy informed choices by increasing knowledge, changing attitudes and enhancing skills.

We will regularly review the curriculum to ensure that information is up to date and consistent and that the cross-curricular approach is utilised as a vehicle for delivering messages about healthy eating.We aim to provide a service that is consistent with our teaching of healthy eating and drinking thus enabling children and young people to put into practice their learning in the curriculum

For children to learn how to develop good relationships, and respect the differences between people.

There are four main areas of the Healthy School Status that we offer at Higher Openshaw Community School.

 Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE)

PSHE is an important subject to teach, it is vital if pupils are to learn how to keep safe and healthy in an ever-changing world. Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) education is a school subject through which pupils develop the knowledge, skills and attributes that they need to manage their lives, now and in the future. These skills and attributes help pupils to stay healthy, safe and prepare them for life and work in modern Britain. When taught well, PSHE education helps pupils to achieve their academic potential, and leave school equipped with skills they will need throughout later life.

PSHE is a key way that schools can ensure that pupils are receiving a wide and varied curriculum that is relevant to the lives they live today and prepares them for the future.

Personal, social and health education (PSHE) is a planned, developmental programme of learning opportunities and experiences through which children and young people acquire the knowledge, understanding and skills they need to manage their lives, now and in the future.  We believe that the education of PSHE enables children to become healthier, more independent and more responsible members of society. We encourage our pupils to play a positive role in contributing to the life of the school and the wider community. In doing so, we help to develop their sense of self-worth. We teach them how society is organised and governed. We ensure that the children experience the process of democracy through participation of the School Council. We teach children about their rights and about their responsibilities. They learn to appreciate what it means to be a positive member of a diverse and multi-cultural society. Indeed, the teaching of PSHE helps in many ways to meet the objectives set out in the Children Act 2004 (Every Child Matters) – ‘that to be healthy, stay safe, enjoy and achieve, make a positive  contribution and achieve economic well-being’. PSHE makes a significant contribution to pupil’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural (SMSC) development, their behaviour and safety and the school’s statutory responsibility to pupils’ wellbeing. In addition, the learning provided through this comprehensive PSHE provision is essential to safeguarding pupils, as Ofsted has set out. 

What we teach

PSHE respects and takes account of pupils’ prior learning and experiences. Our teaching reflects the needs shared by all children and specific needs of pupils at Higher Openshaw Community School School.  

How we teach PSHE

At Higher Openshaw Community School we will provide children with a range of experiences and opportunities that can enrich and broaden their learning in PSHE.

Much of what we teach will be delivered through class discussion and will include time for personal reflection. Teaching is responsive to class and pupil needs and decisions may be taken to explore one aspect in greater depth, or move on, as dictated by the needs of the cohort. From whole class sessions, the Learning Mentor or teacher may follow up certain themes with individual pupils in more detail dependent on need.

Whole school focus weeks or days will be adapted to meet the needs of each year group and to ensure coverage of the scheme of work. Some aspects of the programme may need to have parental approval.

EYFS

In the Early Years Foundation Stage, PSHE is encouraged through the ‘Personal, Social and Emotional Development’ Curriculum. PSHE is about making connections and is strongly linked to play, PSHE is taught through activities that are part of topics and experiences, as well as on an individual basis to develop personal skills such as dressing, feeding and toileting. Positive experiences are built through daily opportunities to share and enjoy a range of activities, as members of a small group or occasionally during whole school activities.

Legal/National Requirements

New School Food Standards were announced on 17th June 2014. From 1st January 2015, all local authority maintained schools, academies and free schools set up before 2010 and created from June 2014 onwards
must meet these new standards for school food. (For more information on these regulations visit http://www.schoolfoodplan.com/standards/)

Governing bodies have a responsibility to provide the following meals services within schools:
 Free School Meals – to those pupils who are entitled to a free school meal (FSM).
 Paid School Meals – to any other pupil within the school whose parents have requested that a meal
is provided.
 Facilities to eat Packed Lunches – to enable pupils who have brought food from home to eat it.

Pupils cannot be charged for the use of facilities.

Under the new Common Inspection Framework, from September 2015, Ofsted will inspect how “children and learners keep themselves healthy, including through healthy eating”. As part of this, inspectors will look at “the
food on offer and visit the kitchen and dinner hall to see the atmosphere and culture in the dining space and the effect this has on pupils’ behaviour.” Inspectors will also look at the “breadth and balance of the curriculum.

Physical Exercise

At Higher Openahaw Community School, we recognise the role that PE has to play in promoting a long term healthy lifestyle which is both enjoyable and fulfilling. We aim to provide a high-quality physical education curriculum that inspires all of our pupils to succeed and excel in competitive sport and other physically demanding activities. Through our physical education culture aim to enhance health and well-being of our pupils as well as their academic achievement.

We want to provide opportunities for our pupils to become confident and physically literate in a way which supports their wellbeing. In addition to this, we aim to provide opportunities for children to compete in sport and other activities in order to build resilience and embed values such as team work, fairness and respect.

Our PE and sport aspires to build self-esteem, teamwork and leadership skills enabling each child to be the best they can be by: 
-         Developing confidence, skills and knowledge.
-         Pursuing excellence
-         Being proud of achievements.
-         Promoting fair play and respect.
-         Educating children to improve health and wellbeing.
-         Providing quality opportunities for children outside of school time. 

In Physical Education children take part in a wide range of both indoor and outdoor activities. Through these activities children are able to develop their fundamental movement skills, such as agility, balance and co-ordination, but they also have the opportunity to improve their personal, social and emotional development and learn about good sportsmanship. At Higher Openshaw Community School, children learn that being active is fun and that it is important to take part in an active lifestyle. Children take part in PE every week which take place both indoors, in our school hall, as well as outdoors on the playground. Years 4  also take part in weekly swimming lessons which are held at Wright Robinson College, where the programme includes water confidence, safety and stroke technique.

Families come in all different shapes and sizes and this is something we celebrate!

LGBT Q+

To nurture the skills of resilience is key to providing young people with the ability to cope with stress, adversity, failure and challenges. Resilience is evident when young people have a greater ability to ‘bounce back’ when faced with difficulties and achieve positive outcomes.

LGBT stands for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender. The “plus” represents other sexual identities.

At Higher Openshaw Community School we celebrate that our children come from different families. We know that like many other schools in the UK,  some children have a mum and a dad, some children live with just one parent, some children live with their grandparents and some children have two mums or two dads.

Aside from our moral duty, it is also our statutory duty to teach children about different families and relationships and therefore all primary schools in England are expected to teach Relationships Education. In teaching Relationships Education we ensure that the needs of all pupils are appropriately met, and that all pupils understand the importance of equality and respect. We ensure that all of our teaching is sensitive and age appropriate in approach and content.

In order to prepare children for the diverse society they live in and to prevent bullying and discrimination, it is important to talk about difference in general and different families in particular. At HOCS, the children learn about and celebrate different family structures primarily through our PSHE scheme of work, science scheme of work and during our celebration of LGBT+ History Month. In addition, our school library and class book corners are stocked with books that represent different family structures and some of the texts we use within our English lessons feature an LGBT character. All children are encouraged to talk positively about their own and each other’s families and the school does not tolerate any homophobic, biophobic or transphobic language.

Resilience empowers an individual to recognise and value the full diversity of the world they live in. It embraces people’s individual choices in regard to their sexual orientation and provides them with the confidence and self-belief to to identify discrimination; to make a stand against bullying, aggressive and disrespectful behaviour and to seek support.

The newly statutory areas of Relationships Education (Primary) and RSE (secondary)(insert link Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education and Health Education guidance (publishing.service.gov.uk) require that all children should be taught about equality and respect in the context of the Equalities Act 2010, where both gender reassignment and sexual orientation are amongst the protected characteristics. Learning about LGBT identities should be age-appropriate and delivered as part of a spiral PSHE curriculum which builds on prior knowledge. Children and young people should be taught skills to identify discriminatory language of all types, to challenge it where appropriate and to get help from a trusted adult where necessary.

Diversity role models

pop n olly

https://www.kidsreadtheworld.com/lgbtq

Key actions by school

• Pupils should be taught about the society in which they are growing up. These subjects are designed to foster respect for others and for difference, and educate pupils about healthy relationships.
• Pupils should receive teaching on LGBTQ+ content during their school years. Teaching children about the society that we live in and the different types of loving, healthy relationships that exist can be done in a way that respects everyone. Primary schools are strongly encouraged and enabled to cover LGBTQ+ content when teaching about different types of families.
• Secondary schools should cover LGBTQ+ content in their RSE teaching. RSE should meet the needs of all pupils, whatever their developing sexuality or identity – this should include age-appropriate teaching about different types of relationships in the context of the law.
• The broad process for engagement should involve the school providing clear information to all parents, in an accessible way, on their proposed programme and policy; parents being given reasonable time to consider this information; the school providing reasonable opportunities for parents to feed in their views; and the school giving consideration to those views from parents. Schools ultimately make the final decisions and engagement does not amount to a parental veto. The Department for Education will back schools that, having engaged with parents and carefully considered their views, take reasonable decisions about their Relationships Education policy.

By the end of Primary School all pupils should Know:

• About different families (which can include LGBTQ+ parents), along with families headed by grandparents, single parents, adoptive parents, and foster parents/carers, among other family structures.
• To accept these differences.
• To understand the importance of equality and respect.
• To understand how to challenge LGBTQ+ bullying within their school and the community.

Source: Relationships Education RSE and Health Education (DfE)  Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education and Health Education guidance (publishing.service.gov.uk)