Healthy School Status

We want all children and young people to be healthy and achieve at school and in life. By providing opportunities at school for enhancing emotional and physical health, it should improve long term health, reduce health inequalities, increase social inclusion and raise achievement for all. The aim is to deliver real benefits for children and young people, specifically:

  • To support children and young people in developing healthy behaviours
  • To help raise the achievement of children and young people
  • To help reduce health inequalities
  • To help promote social inclusion

The National Healthy Schools Programme has four themes:

  • Personal, Social, Health and Citizenship Education (PSHCE), including SRE and drugs education
  • Healthy Eating
  • Physical Activity
  • Emotional Health and Wellbeing, including bullying

The four core themes relate to both the school curriculum and the emotional and physical learning environment in school. Each theme includes a number of criteria that schools need to fulfil in order to achieve National Healthy School Status. Although each theme covers a different area, they are all delivered using the whole school approach so the basic requirements are the same.

How St Dominic’s has met the criteria:

PSHCE:

All children in KS3 have two 50–minute PSHCE lessons every week, and one per week in KS4

We have a Sex Education Policy and a rolling programme across all year groups

We have a Drugs Policy

Circle Time on the Residential Areas provides the opportunity to discuss relevant issues

We have a Student Voice council which meets regularly

We are a ‘No Smoking’ site

Healthy eating:

Click here for this week's Menu


The children enjoy cookery club on Wednesdays, learning to make nutritious tasty meals

We are starting a gardening club on Mondays to encourage the pupils to try different vegetables they may not otherwise like

We survey the pupils regularly in order to deliver healthy options at lunchtime that they will enjoy eating

We have a Food Committee which meets regularly to discuss food issues, and the improvements are on going

The minimum standards recommended by a dietician at RSCH have been fully introduced across three meals a day

A nutritionist from Sainsbury’s has been to visit several times for fun, healthy food tasting sessions

Physical Activity:

All pupils have two 50-minute sessions of PE / Games every week

We have playground equipment to encourage active break times

Football games on the playground are encouraged

Evening activities available include swimming, fitness training, rock climbing and dry slope ski-ing sessions

Children are encouraged to work towards achieving the The Duke of Edinburgh Award

Emotional Health and Wellbeing:

Every child has a Link Worker

Circle Time on the Residential Areas provides the opportunity to promote wellbeing

All children have the opportunity to discuss relevant issues in PSHCE.