Healthy Schools

HIAS website

Healthy Schools and reporting achievement

Since September 2005, OfSTED expects schools to demonstrate how they are contributing to the five national outcomes for children. A school with Healthy Schools status achieves nationally-agreed minimum core standards that contribute to the five national outcomes of 'Every child matters: change for children' (2004). Gaining National Healthy School Status (NHSS) provides rigorous evidence of this and will assist you in evidencing your self-evaluation and completing your new school profile.


The National Healthy Schools Programme (NHSP) does not require schools to devote resources to another set of quality-assurance targets. The standards referred to here are all part of existing, and increasingly mainstreamed, schemes to promote personal, social and health education (PSHE), emotional health and well-being (EHWB), healthy eating and physical activity, eg: 'Social and emotional aspects of learning' (SEALS), the 'Food in Schools (FIS) programme' and the 'School Sport Partnerships Programme'. A school that is participating in these schemes will not need to do anything extra to attain the Healthy Schools standard. Schools will be able to build on existing projects and practice.

Government commitment

The National Healthy Schools Programme is funded by the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) and the Department of Health, with a regional and local network. The Government has an expectation that 100% of schools will have achieved the new enhanced Healthy Schools status or be working towards achieving it by December 2009.

Achieving Healthy Schools status enables your school to demonstrate its contribution to the five national outcomes for children as set out in the government publication, 'Every child matters: change for children', to:

  • be healthy
  • stay safe
  • enjoy and achieve
  • make a positive contribution
  • achieve economic well-being

and supports the targets within the following national priorities:

  • improving behaviour and attendance
  • improving performance in national standard attainment tests (SATs)
  • reducing and halting the increase in childhood obesity
  • promoting positive sexual health and reducing teenage pregnancy
  • reducing young people’s drug, alcohol and tobacco use.