Maidenhead & Windsor

Eight more Windsor and Maidenhead Royal Borough schools are this week joining the growing ranks of success stories in the prestigious Healthy Schools stakes.

Staff and pupils at the eight schools will receive official recognition of their achievements on Friday September 28 when they are presented with their Healthy Schools certificates by Cllr Eileen Quick, lead member for education, at a special ceremony at WAMDSAD, Braywick Road, Maidenhead.

The latest successes bring to 37 the total of borough schools with Healthy Schools status. The eight 'new recruits' are:
· Maidenhead: Cookham Dean Primary, Furze Platt senior, Holyport Primary, Wessex Primary and Woodlands Park Primary
· Windsor: Clewer Green First, Kings Court First
· Sunningdale: Charters.

All the Windsor and Maidenhead schools demonstrated their commitment to the healthy schools programme by fulfilling a challenging list of criteria under a number of headings:
· personal, social and health education – including sex and relationships and drugs education
· emotional health and wellbeing – including developing skills to manage feelings and ways to prevent bullying
· physical activity – demonstrating the importance of regular activity for increased health benefits
· healthy eating – focussing on the importance of making healthy eating choices.

The schools will be displaying examples of some of their work for the awards during the presentation afternoon.

Cllr Eileen Quick, lead member for Windsor and Maidenhead education, said: 'The Healthy Schools awards are all about helping young people to feel healthy in every way, both physically and emotionally, encouraging each and every child to feel good about themselves and enabling them to develop into well-rounded adults.

Children who consciously make healthy eating choices and take regular physical activity while at school can take those lessons home and encourage their parents to do the same – thereby spreading an important health message beyond the classroom.

'A great many people put in a lot of hard work to earn these awards and they are all to be heartily congratulated.'

As well as the Healthy Schools awards, there will be PSHE (Personal, Social and Health Education) certificates for four teachers - Sarah Aleston from Oakfield Primary, Sarah Belchamber from Homer First, Marc Baxter from Burchetts Green Infants, Mary Gallop from Lowbrook Primary and school nurse Louise Foster.

The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead