Category: project-04

Evaluating a Healthy Schools programme – our report and recommendations published

Posted on by CLAHRC

School-based interventions to increase health and wellbeing

The health and wellbeing of school children is a pressing concern in England, with a  growing prevalence of obesity and diabetes in childhood. It is also widely recognised that a child’s emotional health and wellbeing influences their cognitive development and learning, as well as their physical and social health and mental wellbeing in adulthood.

These increased concerns, aligned with a better recognition of the emotional and mental health needs of children, led the Greater London Authority (GLA) to develop and co-ordinate a school based health programme to improve health and wellbeing for all pupils in London.

The result was the development of the GLA’s Healthy Schools London programme (HSL) launched in April 2013 and co-ordinated by the Greater London Authority (GLA). The programme encourages schools to adopt a whole school approach to combat the specific health and wellbeing needs of their pupils by developing their policies and procedures.  HSL recognises and rewards the schools’ endeavours through a system of awards: Bronze, Silver, and Gold.

A CLAHRC North Thames project recently completed a two-year evaluation of the programme. The aim of the evaluation was to assess the contribution of the programme to improving educational attainment, and health and well-being, among schoolchildren in London. It was funded jointly by the GLA and the CLAHRC, and was conducted between 2014 and 2016 by Dr Harry Rutter and Dr Andrew Barnfield from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM).

We conducted literature reviews, focus groups in 20 schools, interviews with 6 directors of public health and directors of children’s services, focus groups with borough leads, interviews with the GLA core team and borough leads, and two assessment visits to special schools. We also conducted an online survey across all participating schools, with a total of over 450 responses.

Was HSL effective in its aims?

Our evaluation

  • Assessed the potential for the HSL programme to influence educational achievement, promote healthy lifestyle behaviours, and reduce health inequalities in London
  • Investigated the extent to which becoming a Healthy School is associated with changes in school-level policies, and activities.
  • Assessed the nature and level of engagement with the HSL programme by schools, including any differential uptake by socio-economic factors, and to understand the drivers and barriers to becoming a Healthy School
  • Provided recommendations to inform the ongoing development of the HSL programme

The evaluation concluded that HSL provides a valuable mechanism to encourage change at school level. Among a suite of recommendations, the evaluation suggested that:

  • HSL would be strengthened by encouraging schools to work more closely together.
  • A mentoring programme could help to spread best practice between schools,
  • There is scope for stronger links between school sand local communities.
  • The implementation of a programme to enhance health and wellbeing provision in early year’s settings could provide an additional mechanism for health improvement, and promote school preparedness among the capital’s children.

Read the full report and recommendations

 

Professor Gene Feder

Posted on by CLAHRC

Professor Feder’s expertise includes Cardiovascular health – in particular the diagnosis and management of angina and using cardiovascular risk as a basis of treatment decisions. He was was a co-applicant on our successful bid to secure funding for the Identification and Referral to Improve Safety (IRIS): Improving the response to domestic violence and abuse project and is working with us from his base at the University of Bristol.

Anna Dowrick

Posted on by CLAHRC

Anna is an NIHR funded PhD student evaluating the implementation of a primary care domestic violence training programme. Anna’s work relates to our Identification and Referral to Improve Safety (IRIS): Improving the response to domestic violence and abuse project.

She has an interest  in translational research, qualitative methods, gender, health inequalities and participatory approaches to research.

 

Dr Madhavi Bajekal

Posted on by CLAHRC

I lead a research team investigating the drivers of long-run improvements in longevity and, particularly, socioeconomic inequalities in morbidity and mortality trends and projections.

Since 2009, my research at UCL has been supported by Legal and General Assurance Society where I am Principal Scientist (Epidemiology) in the Longevity Science Team. Uniquely within the pensions industry, this is a successful example of an embedded industry/academia collaboration to support independent research which is both scientifically novel and of practical relevance to the industry.

Before joining UCL, I was in a senior civil servant at the Office for National Statistics (Deputy Director, Social and Healthcare Analysis); the Chair of Eurostat’s ‘Partnership in Health’ programme; and a Consultant Advisor to the Department of Health’s health survey programme. I began my career as a health analyst at the Department of Primary Care, Imperial College London after completing my PhD in SOAS (University of London).

Caroline Katzer

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Caroline has completed a BSc in Psychology at University of Mannheim in Germany and an MSc in Health Psychology at University of Surrey. Throughout her undergraduate degree in Mannheim she worked as a Research Assistant in the Judgement and Decision Making lab. She has experience in both qualitative and quantitative research methodology. Caroline’s research interests include the development of complex interventions, treatment and illness perceptions in chronically ill patients, adherence to treatment as well as behaviour change in general.

Moïse Roche

Posted on by Joshua Olins

Moïse Roche received his first degree in Psychology from City University London in 2013 and is starting a Masters Degree in Clinical Mental Health Sciences at University College London. Since Moïse left a career of many years in Information Technology Management in 2010, he has gained experience in the field of research and dementia support through his work with the Alzheimer’s Society and St George’s University London. Currently, Moïse is working as a Research Assistant within UCL Division of Psychiatry on a project seeking to improve early access to dementia services to enable timely diagnosis and treatment in Black African and Caribbean populations.