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Health Promoting Schools

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Health Promoting Schools (HPS) is an internationally developed and recognised model that offers a whole school approach to wellbeing for the school. The aim of HPS is all sectors of the school community working together to create a healthy environment in which barriers to learning are reduced.

HPS acknowledges that health and education outcomes for students are linked and interdependent. There is strong evidence that it is an effective way to:

reduce inequalities in health,
improve wellbeing and
improve learning outcomes.

Health Promoting Schools Framework and Process
Health Promotion Schools operates within a framework that encompasses school organisation and ethos, community links and partnerships, and curriculum teaching and learning. Within this framework the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi/Te Tiriti o Waitangi and the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion are embraced.

Health Promoting Schools follows a process that ensures that structures are in place to support the best possible environment for whole school wellbeing and empowers the school community itself to engage in health promotion for sustainable change.

Public Health South’s Role
Public Health South advisors provide advice and assistance to those working in and with primary and secondary schools. While the HPS approach is available to every school, Public Health South prioritises schools and communities in greatest need. Public Health South’s work includes:

Supporting school communities to understand and implement the HPS approach.
Coordinating the publication of a quarterly magazine.
Developing regional inter-sectoral networks.
Providing and being a part of professional development for teaching and health promotion staff.
Collaborating with inter-school agencies.

HPS advisors do not work with students except where they are part of a wider representative team set up to identify and address wellbeing issues. See the contacts page to find out how to contact the HPS advisor on your area.

Fruit in Schools

Fruit in Schools is an initiative funded by the Ministry of Health in which schools agree to work collaboratively to improve health and education outcomes for students and in return each student at participating schools receives a piece of fruit each day. Changes to funding means this initative is currently provided through the HPS advisor.

Agencies Working With Schools

Agencies Working With Schools meet quarterly and the purpose of this group is to develop awareness among those working in and with schools of each other’s programmes, goals and philosophies. Collaboration between the agencies is influential in targeting and meeting schools needs. Agencies working with Schools information

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