Healthy Schools and Pre-Schools

The Cwm Taf Morgannwg Healthy School Scheme

Governments and school communities recognise that health, well-being and educational outcomes are closely intertwined and that schools are important settings for influencing the health and well-being of students, families, staff and the wider community. The Welsh Network of Healthy School Schemes (WNHSS) was launched in 1999 as a national framework of local healthy school schemes (one in each of the 22 Local Authority areas), with national and local responsibilities. Each local scheme is responsible for supporting the development of health promoting schools within their area. The Cwm Taf Morgannwg (CTM) Healthy School Scheme consists of three Local Authority Schemes, and forms part of the WNHSS. All maintained schools in CTM are enrolled on the CTM Healthy School Scheme. The aim of the WNHSS is to support schools to become health promoting institutions in line with national healthy schools’ criteria. Schools are supported from ‘whole school/ settings approach’ universal approaches which seek to influence the environment, policy and practice within a setting to enable improved health and wellbeing. Within a school, this translates to providing information, advice and support to embed a whole school approach on a given health related topic to optimise the current and future safety, health and wellbeing of children, young people, staff and the wider community.

The team works closely with partners from across health, social care, and education to align support, training, and resources.

The Healthy & Sustainable Pre-School Scheme

The Healthy and Sustainable Pre-School Scheme (HSPSS) recognises the value of early interventions and aims to provide a structured framework to develop and integrate holistic approaches to health promotion and wellbeing across the whole setting and its community. The HSPSS has evolved from the well-established Welsh Network of Healthy Schools Scheme and was developed and rolled out in 2012.

The Scheme is aimed at all pre-school childcare providers across CTM, primarily working with those settings in areas of highest deprivation. The evidence shows that investment in the early years of life has a significant positive impact on a child’s health, social and educational development and their long term outcomes. Each setting is assigned a Pre-School Practitioner who supports settings through the Scheme. Local governance is provided by a multi-agency Steering Group.

In relation to this Scheme, the term “sustainable” refers to the consideration of issues relating to economic, social and environmental wellbeing of our communities and the future generations.

Resources

For more information on Healthy Schools and Pre-Schools schemes in Wales, please visit Welsh Network of Healthy School Schemes.

If you have any questions on the Schemes in Cwm Taf Morgannwg please contact the Healthy Education Setting Coordinator at CTMhealthyschandpre-sch@wales.nhs.uk.