disseminating good practice and
celebrating achievement in Wiltshire
Produced by the Schools’ Branch
Volume 5 Number 1 Autumn 2003
HEALTH ISSUES SPECIAL
Introduction
Welcome to the first number of our 5th year of publication which is dedicated to the topic of Health, encompassing PSHE and Citizenship issues.
The next issue will be published in February 2004. This will contain reports and articles from teacher researchers supported by Research and Development and BPRS funding.
If you have any items including articles, reports and especially pupils’ own work which you wish to disseminate to a wider audience please send either by e-mail or disc to the General Editor, Susan McCulloch (for contact details see below) If you wish to suggest a Special Issue for later publication please contact
(01225) 713742
Susan McCulloch, c/o Libraries and Heritage HQ, Bythesea Road, Trowbridge, Wiltshire BA14 8BS
Contents
Guest Editorial / 4The National Healthy Schools Standard (NHSS)
and the Wiltshire Healthy Schools Programme / 7
Supporting the health of young people in Wiltshire / 9
Wiltshire LEA’s Quality Standards for drug education / 18
Young People’s Smoking Project and the Smoke Free Award / 21
Young people “Walking Tall” in Wiltshire / 28
“Walk Safe” and WCC road safety unit / 30
“Baby, think it over” / 33
Drug use prevention: a review of reviews / 35
“Big Night Out”, by Fairgame / 42
The role of police in schools / 43
Junior Good Citizen Programme / 48
“Bridges” – building lines of communication for young men / 51
Teenage pregnancy strategy for Wiltshire / 53
The Development of the new substance misuse service for young people under 19 in Wiltshire
“Drugswise”: a pilot project for Secondary School / 55
56
Life Education Centre / 58
An Education in Odessa / 59
Guest Editorial
Welcome to this special edition of the Wiltshire Journal focussing on health related issues.
At the beginning of term the newly formed LEA Health Team were pleased to be asked to produce this edition of the Journal and, as a result, the articles here focus on those issues which form a part of a school’s programme of Personal and Social Health Education & Citizenship.
Through such programmes schools are able to play an important role in supporting children and young people in their emotional and social development, helping them to develop their attitudes, skills and knowledge in a way that positively affects their behaviour. As Richard Palmer explains in his article the Healthy Schools Programme, now in its second phase, continues to support the development of school communities in this area.
As well as highlighting good practice, many of these articles reflect the varied work and creative projects related to these themes taking place in Wiltshire schools. As the newest addition to the team, compiling these contributions was a useful way for me to find out about the wide variety of work that is happening throughout the county.
Local research such as the School Health Related Behaviour Survey and the Young People’s Smoking Project has helped give us a clearer picture of current health related behaviour and some useful data to draw on in our continued work supporting the health and educational needs of young people. The quality standards for drug education and the forthcoming PSHE toolkit will help guide schools development through cycles of self-assessment and review. Graham Paton adds some insights on Citizenship from an international perspective gained as a result of his recent excursion to Odessa.
Represented here are some of the many visitors and interagency projects which support schools in dealing with issues of concern as well as promoting health and well-being. The Life Education Centre, with Harold the giraffe, and Junior Good Citizen will be familiar and memorable annual events for many schools. The “Walk Tall” anti bullying project and the “Walk Safe” Road Safety project have both contributed to the safety of young people in Wiltshire. The Bridges drama project for secondary pupils, developed in partnership with Health Promotion, explores the way young men deal with their feelings and the difficulties many have communicating these to others. Use of electronic babies, prosthesis bumps and video diaries enabled a group of young women to experience what it might be like to be teenage mothers, as Emma Twyford explains.
There is also news of some exciting new projects for secondary schools such as the entertaining and thought provoking new drama “Big Night Out” from Fairgame Theatre Company and the new Drugswise project from Early Interventions. The varied role of a Youth & Community Affairs Police Officer is described and there is an update, by Mick Soper, on the development of the new substance misuse service for young people.
I hope, as I did, you enjoy finding out more about these initiatives, which help schools in promoting pupils’ development as effective learners to become active and healthy citizens.
Nick Bolton
Secondary School Drug Adviser
Articles follow
on pages
7 - 63
The National Healthy Schools Standard (NHSS) and the Wiltshire Healthy Schools Programme
The White Paper on Excellence in Schools (1997) set out the Government’s intention to help all schools to become “healthy schools”. In addition the Department of Health report Saving Lives: Our Healthier Nation (1999) recognised the important part that education had to play in promoting emotional well-being and better health in young people, and in particular those from socially and economically disadvantaged backgrounds. In response to this the Department of Health (DoH) and Department for Education and Skills (DfES) launched the National Healthy Schools Standard.
Although most education authorities had some form of healthy schools programme in existence, the NHSS was developed to provide them with a series of quality standards or “benchmarks” and also a process for accreditation to the Standard. This in turn provided local healthy schools programmes with a mechanism to improve and develop, and gave them raised status in terms of the Government’s overall health and education aims.
The Wiltshire Healthy Schools Programme had been in existence since 1992 and was already well used by schools throughout the county. By the time the NHSS was launched, the Wiltshire Programme was already making steps to improve its overall breadth in terms of the health education advice and support it offered to schools and had begun to be used as a model for schools to improve their broader Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE) curriculum. Developed in partnership with Swindon, the scheme was managed by senior officers in an education-health partnership, and sought successful accreditation to the new Standards in 2000. The Wiltshire Programme was the first healthy schools programme in the South West to achieve this.
Following this success, many Wiltshire schools applied to become “Healthy Schools” and the scheme has gone from strength to strength ever since. To date 76 Wiltshire schools are holders of the Healthy Schools Award (the highest level of involvement) with many more accessing the support and training the programme also provides.
In 2003 the NHSS entered “Phase 2” with secured Government funding until 2006, thus ensuring the continued survival of healthy schools programmes nationally. The Wiltshire Programme is now also entering a new phase, with an amended structure and the provision of a “PSHE Toolkit” which will be disseminated to all schools in January 2004, thus helping all schools who wish to apply for Healthy School status within the county and acknowledging the achievement of many Wiltshire schools who are making great strides with this aspect of education.
When a school chooses to join the Healthy Schools programme they begin an invaluable process of self-review and self-improvement. The scheme is organised to provide each school with mechanisms for consulting with staff, parents and pupils about the overall “healthiness” of the school, tools to evaluate their provision of Personal, Social and Health Education and Citizenship with free support and training to move the school forward. Schools choose to work on all aspects of health included within PSHE & C such as:
· Emotional health;
· Bullying;
· Safety Education;
· Drug Education;
· Sex and Relationship Education;
· Staff Well-being;
· Physical activity;
· Healthy eating;
· Education for race equality;
· Giving pupils a voice;
· Building pupil self-esteem and confidence;
· Careers education and guidance;
· Peer mentoring and support.
It is this broad nature of the scheme which generates success, as schools are able to look at their own priorities and link them into the Healthy Schools Programme. Becoming a Healthy School is a developmental process and schools involved in the Wiltshire Programme have also recognised this. They are always seeking further improvements and developing new themes and projects to the benefit of the whole school community. The very essence of a healthy school.
For more information on the NHSS and the Wiltshire Healthy Schools Programme please contact:
Richard Palmer Healthy Schools Programme Coordinator for Wiltshire on 01380 733808 e-mail
Or look on the NHSS website www.wiredforhealth.gov.uk
Supporting the health of
young people in Wiltshire
a summary report of the
health related behaviour survey
The results presented here are a limited compilation of some of the data collected from a sample of primary pupils aged 9 to 11 and secondary pupils aged 12 to 15 in Wiltshire during Summer 2002. This work was co-ordinated by Wiltshire Health Promotion Service as a way of collecting robust information about young people’s lifestyles. Teachers were informed on how to collect the most reliable data by Schools Health Education Unit staff and then pupils in Years 5 and 6 in the primary schools and Years 8 and 10 in the secondary schools anonymously completed the questionnaire. Completed questionnaires were then returned to the Schools Health Education Unit in Exeter for processing.
A total of 1,470 pupils took part in 11 primary schools and 4 secondary schools.
Cross-phase links
Many of the questions in the primary and secondary versions of the questionnaire are identical or very similar. Some of these questions are presented later in the article so that behaviour can be compared across the age range.
Topics covered in the survey include:
· Citizenship;
· Drugs, Alcohol and Tobacco;
· Emotional Health and Well-being;
· Healthy Eating;
· Homework;
· Leisure;
· Physical activity;
· Puberty & Growing Up;
· Safety;
· School and Career;
· Sex and Relationships.
1470 young people were involved in the surveySchool Year / Year 5 / Year 6 / Year 8 / Year 10 / Total
Age
Boys
Girls
Total / 9-10
184
155
339 / 10-11
170
160
330 / 12-13
217
207
424 / 14-15
185
192
377 / 756
714
1470
Reference Sample
Wiltshire data have been compared with a compilation of survey areas that have completed similar versions of the questionnaire. These areas include Cambridge, Dorset, Dudley, Jersey, Somerset and Swindon.
A selection of some of the statistically significant differences, where the level seen in the Wiltshire data is either 5% above or below that in the wider reference data, is indicated by the symbol E
For more details please contact The Schools Health Education Unit
Tel. (01392) 667272. www.sheu.org.uk
Wiltshire primary school pupils in Year 5 and Year 6
(ages 9 to 11)
EMOTIONAL HEALTH & WELL-BEING
q 39% of pupils reported that they felt afraid to go to school because of bullying, at least sometimes.
q Behaviour widely reported as causing distress included: being teased or made fun of, being pushed or hit for no reason and being ganged up on.
q When asked where it happened, 16% of pupils reported outside at break times and 16% in the classroom at break times. 8% reported during a lesson.
q 24% of pupils reported that they thought they were bullied because of the way they looked.
q 3% of pupils reported that they thought others might fear going to school because of them.
q 32% of pupils had high self-esteem scores.
q 34% worried about SATs/tests
q 32% about family problems.
q 37% of year 5 girls worried about problems with friends.
q 10% of Year 5 boys, 7% of Year 6 boys, and 21% of all girls worried about body changes.
HEALTHY EATING
q 5% had nothing to eat for breakfast on the day of the survey.
q 47% of pupils have crisps and 36% sweets and chocolates ‘on most days’
q 47% eat fresh fruit and 57% dairy produce on most days.
q 43% of pupils ate vegetables on most days.
q 5% of all pupils described themselves as vegetarian.
DENTAL CARE
q 79% of pupils reported that they cleaned their teeth at least twice a day (the recommended frequency), however, 14% reported that they had to have a filling last time they visited the dentist.
DRUGS, ALCOHOL AND TOBACCO
Alcohol
q 21% of the primary school sample had at least one alcoholic drink (more than just a sip) in the last week.
q A greater proportion of boys in both year groups had tried an alcoholic drink.
q 1% of the sample reported that they did sometimes drink alcohol without their parents knowing.
q The most popular drinks were beer and wine.
Drugs
q 64% of pupils reported that their parents had talked to them about drugs.
q 24% say they are ‘fairly sure’ or ‘certain’ they know a user of drugs (not medicines)
Tobacco
q 10% of pupils reported that they had tried smoking once or twice.
q 1% smoked at least one cigarette during the last 7 days.
q Of these smokers 60% smoked just 1 cigarette.
q 3% think they will smoke when they are older.
PHYSICAL ACTIVITY
q 85% of pupils reported that they enjoyed physical activities ‘quite a lot’ or ‘a lot’.
q 66% considered themselves fit or very fit.
q 48% reported that they had exercised three times or more, in the last week, which made them breathe harder.
q 95% of pupils have a bicycle.
The activities most recorded as being taken part in regularly were:
Year 5
Boys Girls
Football 73% Riding a bike 51%