FORUM 25th Edition: August 2001: page 6

FORUM
25th Edition: August 2001

'Health Promoting' Schools

PROMOTING HEALTH IN THE SCHOOL LIBRARY

cover As they offer access to a wide range of resources in various formats, school library resource centres (LRCs) are in an ideal position to provide information on health issues. But while LRCs can provide such information library users must feel comfortable accessing it. Some users, particularly young people, may wish to access information discreetly and the LRC can accommodate this in a variety of ways. 'Help yourself' display stands of leaflets, young people's magazines, posters on the walls, and CD-Roms such as 'D-Code' and 'Body Facts' which provide information on drugs and the body through interactive games, all offer access without drawing too much attention. Aspects of the curriculum require pupils to find out information on a number of health related topics including pregnancy, smoking, alcohol abuse, healthy eating, drug dependency etc. These topics offer young people a means of accessing information for both academic and personal reasons.

The less formal setting of the LRC can be used by members of staff wishing to deliver health promotion information to small groups in a relaxed environment. One school nurse in Dundee has chosen to use the LRC to deliver sessions on healthy eating and smoking. logo

It is of course vital to provide up-to-date and relevant resources and involving young people in selection is an ideal way to raise awareness of the LRCs stock and ensure it appeals to those for whom it is intended.

Of course health information, particularly in leaflet form, is not solely for pupils. Other members of the school community, including cleaners, teachers, technicians and parents, may also appreciate informal access to this type of information.

Finally, while many areas of health promotion are serious, there is always plenty of scope for humour. A good sprinkling of information delivered in an amusing way can help to make everyone feel more relaxed about accessing information which can sometimes be seen as embarrassing, boring or uncool.

MOIRA FOSTER
Learning Resources Co-ordinator
Educational Development Service
Dundee City Council

For further information contact:

ELSPETH HENRY
Tayside Health Promotion Centre

Tel: 01382 228213

(These illustrations are representative of booklets available, and were supplied by the Health Education Board for Scotland)

HEALTH WEEK AT SOUTHESK PRIMARY SCHOOL

The school organised a range of health-related activities and presentations for both pupils and parents. Our aims for the week were:

To help make pupils and parents more aware of the issues associated with a healthy lifestyle.
To encourage pupils to consider following a healthier diet.
To encourage pupils to undertake more exercise.
To help make pupils more aware of the safety issues.

A number of agencies helped us by participating in the programme, which was devised to cater for every class and to ensure that they all received an appropriate input for their stage. Valuable contributions covered topics such as physical exercise, diet, dental hygiene, social responsibility, personal safety, smoking, drugs, alcohol, basic first aid and road safety.

All the pupils and staff started each day of the Health Week with a twenty-minute walk around the surrounding area. Parents accompanied us on the walks with numbers ranging from twenty on the Monday to sixty-five on the Thursday. The pupils enjoyed the exercise while the staff felt that the children, on their return to school, seemed to be more prepared for their work.

To help encourage the pupils to opt for a healthy snack the school provided every pupil with a free healthy option each day. The items supplied included fruit, healthy bakes, milk and diluted juice. Throughout that week the children were also observed to be opting for more of the healthy snacks during the interval and lunch breaks. An assembly was held at the end of the week to celebrate the success of the programme and parents also praised the week's activities. A 'Health Week' will now become a bi-annual event at our school.

DOUGLAS WOOD
Head Teacher
Southesk Primary School

For further information contact:

Priscilla Webster
Tayside Health Promotion Centre

Tel: 01382 228213

BRIDGING THE GAP BETWEEN THE FORMAL AND INFORMAL EDUCATION

Innovative approaches to achieving outcomes in education through informal integrated work in a challenging secondary school environment.

In Baldragon Academy, a school formed through merger, now a New Community School, a range of work is undertaken to balance pupils' needs and expectations with staff targets. The school is in a Social Inclusion partnership area and has a history of high exclusion. Young people's identification of their needs has led to the development of some very successful projects that, although informal, demonstrate measurable success in the form of attendance, attainment and stakeholder satisfaction.

These include:

The Edge, health information drop-in, a nationally acclaimed pupil-developed place to be in school.
Creations, live music events and CD production developed by pupils in response to exam stress.
Appropriate Curriculum, development of tailored support and educational activities for young people at risk of exclusion.
Support of mainstream curriculum.
Range of focused work.

The challenge of meeting young people's needs and ensuring educational objectives are met, requires a flexible repertoire of approaches which bridge the gap between the formal and informal and also between professions. Informal provision is not an unstructured and open-ended means to amusing pupils but a carefully facilitated support of young people's potential, for the activity, for further academic achievement and for themselves and their futures.

A paper exploring the above and effective models for practice in provision, along with practical examples of successful strategies, will be presented later this year.

For further information contact:

GILLIAN FERGUSON
Tayside Health Promotion Centre
Health Promotion Officer
Baldragon Academy New Community School Team

Tel: 01382 228213

WORKING WITH PARENTS IN BLAIRINGONE PRIMARY SCHOOL

Blairingone is a small one teacher primary school on the boundary of Perth & Kinross. At a parents' evening called to consider the new sex education guidance, the Head, Janet Harper, took us through the questions with Priscilla Webster from Tayside Health Promotion Centre.

The parents were well informed, courteous, questioning and satisfied with the consultation procedure, but they in turn had two questions for the Scottish Executive:

How do we consult with parents who are not here? How can they be included in the process?
In all this guidance there is nothing to help parents with what they should be doing at home and ways they can do it.

Suggestions emerging from discussions are:

A list of books that may be useful and how to get hold of them (libraries, the school, bookshops).
Worksheets from school taken home during and after a sex education programme.
Videos used by school be viewed at home with children.
Notes on how to listen to children and how to answer their questions with the information they need, not a chapter from a medical text.

For further information contact:

PRISCILLA WEBSTER
Tayside Health Promotion Centre

Tel: 01382 228213

YOUNG PEOPLE SPEAK OUT ABOUT THE SERVICES THEY NEED

In Angus young people are being asked if health services are meeting their needs and how services can be further developed. This is being approached in different ways.

During the annual drama tour, which visited Secondary Schools in March, focussing on health issues for young people, workshops were used to facilitate discussion around service provision in the local area.

A questionnaire at Arbroath High School found that pupils would like a school based drop-in run by the school nurse to be re-established.

Focus group discussions will take place with S5 pupils in several schools. They will be asked to reflect on how it could have been made easier for them to access services when they were under 16.

For further information contact:

KERRY TAYLOR
Tayside Health Promotion Centre
Development Worker
Angus21 Health

Tel: 01382 228213

EASTER BEAGLE TACKLES CHILDHOOD OBESITY IN SUPERMARKETS

North-east charity Grampian Heart Campaign's 'Kids in Condition' scheme encourages primary school children to play their way to health through imaginative games and activities. There are approx. 7000 members, aged 4-11, throughout the North-east.

This Easter 'Kids in Condition' launched a one-off, free comic in Grampian supermarkets to tackle the problem of overweight children and to promote healthy eating to all children. The 'Daily Beagle - Easter Edition' (The Daily Beagle is the club newsletter) was designed for four to twelve year olds and was pre-tested by pupils at Broomhill Primary School in Aberdeen. The comics were available from a wide range of participating supermarkets during the Easter break.

The front-page comic strip told the humorous story of Sneaker's happy, healthy Easter adventure, and the Easter Bunny's sorry tale of over-indulgence. Inside there were 4 colourful pages of ideas for games on Easter Day; egg designs; puzzles; fun, healthy snack ideas; top tips for staying healthy; information about Kids in Condition; the Power Plate; join the dots Easter Bunny and a colour-in Fruity Egg.

A competition on the back page asked readers to choose what they would like to have for breakfast, lunch and tea from the Power Plate inside the comic. They also had to think of an imaginative title for a healthy sandwich and colour in the 'Fruity Easter Egg'. There were over 500 entries from across the North-east. Eleven finalists were chosen and the winner - Amy Westley from Kinloss Primary School - was picked by Aberdeen Football Club top scorer, Arild Stavrum.

For further information please contact:

IZZY CRAWFORD
Grampian Health Board

Tel: 01224 551301
e-mail: izzy.crawford@health-promotions.com

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