RGS wins Healthy Schools award

RIPON Grammar School’s efforts to ensure the health and wellbeing of staff and pupils have won praise.

The school has been presented with a silver Healthy Schools Award for its encouragement of active lifestyles, commitment to staff wellbeing and its personal, social and health education.

It was judged on everything from its celebration of sporting successes to its wide range of after-school sports clubs, activities such as Forest School and appointing staff wellbeing champions.

The North Yorkshire Council’s Healthy Schools awards scheme, driven by the ambition that all children in the county should be safe, happy, healthy and able to achieve, was set up four years ago, with participating schools working towards bronze, silver or gold status by meeting criteria across a number of themes.

NYCC senior health and wellbeing advisor, Clare Barrowman, who praised Ripon Grammar School’s comprehensive personal, social and health education submission, said: “Colleagues were really interested in the use of Forest schools for Year 7 pupils as part of wellbeing.”

To achieve the gold award, the school must now present evidence to support the final two themes of food and emotional health & wellbeing in schools.

So far, of the 280 schools which have signed up to take part in the programme, 120 have achieved awards - 50 schools with a bronze award, 35 with a silver and 35 with a gold.