Health & Fitness Day
Throughout Wales there are interesting and exciting initiatives in all aspects of the work of Secondary Schools. The Welsh Secondary School Association seeks to recognise, reward and disseminate these examples of good practice.
Therefore it was a cause for celebration this week when Rhymney Comprehensive school were notified that they have again been successful and won an award at the Welsh Secondary School Association awards. It is the second time in three years that the school has had their good work recognised and won an award, the 1st time in 2004 for their high innovative, and successful Numeracy scheme. This year they have won the award for the whole school healthy schools initiative.
Rhymney Comprehensive School has been involved in the Healthy School’s initiative since the turn of the century. Under a very able coordinator, Mrs Dando it has grown to encompass every year group, positively affect every pupil’s (& Teacher’s) outlook, and has helped change the school environment. Also, and perhaps more importantly it has positively influenced the life outlook of all of the school’s stakeholders.
We are very conscious that 4 of our 6 catchment areas are in the bottom 10% in the WMDI (Wales Multiple Deprivation Index). We have taken the decision as a school body to attempt to improve the aspects we feel we can influence. The healthy schools initiative therefore, is organised around 6 key issues which we as a school community wish to develop. The issues are fully disseminated throughout the curriculum, impinging on major school decisions, and the everyday pastoral life of R.C.S..
The Initiative and Award application are organised around 6 key issues which we as a school community have tried to improve in order to improve our health and awareness of a healthy lifestyle.
Pupil well being
The school council has become a real voice for learners. They were fundamental in formulating an Anti-bullying policy that has since been introduced. Also, in order to improve the teaching and learning that the school offers all staff have as part of the school based in service training been involved in Assertive Discipline, Heart, Epipen and Child Protection courses recently.
Nutrition
The nutritional intake of the pupils has been focused on in particular, whether it is providing water bottles for pupils and staff, encouraging the eating of fruit, removing vending machines or introducing 2 days during the week when chips are not served. We have a real belief in changing the nutritional intake of our pupils and it has become noticeable that the corridors and behaviour patterns of our learners have improved as a result.
Substance misuse
All members of staff working with young people at the school have been trained to respond to drug and alcohol taking constructively and according to good practice. We feel identifying drug, alcohol and solvent related needs is crucial to meeting gaps in a young person's substance knowledge and identifying those children and young people who may be experiencing problems or engaging in risky activity due to their substance use. The school attends various events aimed at educating both K.S. 3 and K.S. 4 and members of the upper school recently took part in a locally produced DVD called spiked which highlights the perils of drug, cigarette and alcohol abuse.
Health and exercise
The school runs a very detailed extra curricular programme for various sports teams. We believe a healthy body will contribute to a healthy mind. Recent developments in the exercise articles have seen the school register as a 5 x 60 school, and join the LEA PESS cluster group.
Sex Education
Aware of the high number of teenage pregnancies in the area we have attempted to introduce a more detailed Sex education programme. Apart from being taught in both Key Stages the school has had a lot of success with the virtual parenting sessions it has run. This has involved computer simulation baby dolls being taken home for the evening – or if really lucky for the weekend !!
Safe routes to school
The school has reacted to concerns about the safety of pupils when travelling to and from school by supporting and encouraging an LEA WAG grant which has resulted in 4 designated safe routes to school being constructed. This has involved a new cycle and pedestrian bridge over the river Rhymni, an improved crossing on the main road, a new cycle and pedestrian link across a reclaimed colliery site and a new cycle path built from a disused railway line. The school has also invested heavily in the attachment to the outside building of a sun/rain shelter which has been purchased to improve the pupil’s environment.
Acting Headteacher Mr James commented
“The Healthy schools initiative stretches into every aspect of school life from the canteen, to classrooms, to the school council. We are bombarded by Welsh Assembly and the media with statistics and information concerning the time bomb of child obesity, and the consequences of not acting (The number of obese or overweight children aged 2-15 has spiralled to around 30% and health experts warn of a time bomb waiting to explode. Poor diet currently accounts for around a third of deaths from cancer and heart disease, the major killers in the UK – BBC online 2006).
At Rhymney as a school community we have decided to act positively and although we have not reached the objective of a fully Healthy School, we are certainly a long way down the pathway and nearing our destination. We included our submission as an opportunity to celebrate the work undertaken by all, and in an effort to share good practice with other school communities.
The national recognition she has achieved through the Welsh Secondary Schools Award is well deserved. The school is very lucky to have a teacher like Mrs Dando both as a proponent of pedagogy, and subject leader”.
Mrs Dando was very modest when she learnt that her work had achieved national recognition commenting “This is not a personal award, this is an award for the whole school. The hard work in setting up and running the scheme has been time consuming, however, the improvements in the Health, behaviour and results of the pupils of Rhymney Comprehensive has been ample reward.”