London’s Deputy Mayor Victoria Borwick visited Woodlane High School in Hammersmith and Fulham today, Thursday 6th November, to see firsthand the work it has done to achieve the Mayor’s Healthy Schools London Gold status.
Woodlane, a community school for pupils with special educational needs, was the first school in the capital to achieve the Gold accolade. Healthy Schools London is an awards scheme funded by the Mayor of London Boris Johnson that supports and recognises schools’ achievements in pupil health and wellbeing. Over 50 per cent (1,251) of schools across the capital have signed up to the scheme and so far 490 schools have achieved Bronze award, 59 have achieved Silver and three have achieved Gold.
Healthy Schools London encourages schools to work with children from aged four to when they leave, to teach them about the importance of healthy eating, regular physical activity, emotional health and general wellbeing.
Woodlane has succeeded in promoting healthier living to all pupils by increasing the amount of physical activity students participate in. The school’s achievements include:
- 100 per cent of pupils now partake in some form of physical activity every day
- 36 per cent increase in the number of students who participate in school sports competitions
- 87 per cent of pupils say they have achieved/enjoyed participating in the additional physical activity
- 50 per cent increase in number of inactive pupils engaging in at least 60 minutes of physical activity each day.
The Deputy Mayor was taken on a tour of the school and had the opportunity to observe a Year 7 PE lesson and break-time fitness activities, which included judo, circus skills and other accessible sports.
Deputy Mayor Victoria Borwick said: “It is a fantastic achievement for Woodlane to be the first school in the capital to achieve the Gold Healthy Schools London award, and the teachers, staff and pupils should all be extremely proud of themselves. I’m honoured to have been able to visit and see first-hand how the level of physical activity has increased at the school. It’s great to think that all pupils are now involved in some form of sport and improving their fitness on a daily basis.”
Peter Harwood Head Teacher at Woodlane said: “"I am thrilled that Woodlane is the first school to gain the London Healthy Schools Gold Status. This is because it reflects all the hard work the team at Woodlane put in to ensure that our pupils are as healthy, positive and productive as possible. This will prepare them to meet the challenges of independent life in the 21st Century.”
Notes to editors
Healthy Schools London is one of several mayoral backed initiatives and programmes aimed at tackling obesity and improving health for people of all ages in London. These include:
- Getting more Londoners cycling, including one billion pounds recently announced to boost cycling in the capital, including an east-west 'Crossrail for the bike', a new network of 'quietways' and works to improve safety at key junctions;
- The Sporting Legacy programme has resulted in £40 million being invested to upgrade local facilities and increase opportunities for Londoners across the capital to participate in sport and physical activity;
- The Takeaways Toolkit, which deals provides a framework for dealing with the proliferation of fast food shops;
- Public realm improvements large and small, from the Queen Elizabeth Park to pocket parks around the city, offering green spaces for formal and informal activity from walking to cycling to organised sport.
Healthy Schools London (www.healthyschoolslondon.org.uk) will use a whole school approach to improve health and wellbeing, increase access to healthy food throughout the school day, provide opportunities to be more physically active, and aims to reduce childhood obesity. Healthy Schools London will provide awards for schools to recognise work that they are doing around health and wellbeing and childhood obesity linked to five key themes:
- Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education (PSHEE);
- Healthy Eating;
- Physical Activity;
- Emotional health and wellbeing;
- School environment.