Awareness-Raising System
Health promotion in schools is most effective when it is taken forward as a whole school approach. Before engaging with the scheme, schools must evidence that they have raised awareness with the following key groups:
Awareness-raising
There are many effective and innovative ways of raising awareness; below are some methods which may be used:
Staff meetings/ Staff in-service sessions - used to raise awareness and stimulate discussion on how to take the concept forward within schools. Health promotion as a regular agenda item at staff meetings is an effective way to keep staff involved in the school's developments. Taking time to do specific health promotion presentations or workshops is an ideal way of engaging with a number of staff at staff meetings or in-service training days where future developments can be negotiated and planned.
Assemblies - are an excellent way of raising awareness amongst pupils and staff. It is possible to incorporate a degree of participation into these assemblies. Assemblies provide opportunities for launching pieces of work. Some schools have produced eye catching displays of health work following their health promotion assemblies.
Displays - health promotion displays can raise awareness and stimulate debate. These could be examples of pupils' work (e.g. "Confidence to Learn” drawings in the primary) or suggestions for actions from consultations. They can also coincide with events in the school e.g. parents' nights, open evenings, performances, so they can be seen by as large an audience as possible.
Parent Teacher Associations and School Boards - provide opportunities for contacting parents and gaining feedback and views on your school's development as a health promoting school. They are a very good way of "testing out" ideas before sharing them with the majority of the parents.
Newsletters - can be extremely informative for the members of the school community and can work to consolidate and celebrate progress/ achievements. Some schools may wish to develop "Health Newsletters" while others may wish to incorporate information about health promotion work into an existing newsletter.
Parents' evenings - good opportunities for raising awareness about the school’s health promotion activities. As well as being able to inform parents about such work face to face, these evenings provide the opportunity to create displays to inform parents, or to hold a brief consultation with some parents during the evening. Fife Health Promotion Department offers a parent education service where trained specialists will provide informative evening sessions to parents on a variety of health topics.
Your awareness raising process should be evidenced in the form of a short report (see submission portfolio section) . Here you will be asked to detail your methods, dates, the target audience, the size of the target audience and any further details of the process involved.
- Staff (management, teaching and non teaching, external agencies)
- Pupils
- Parents
Awareness-raising
There are many effective and innovative ways of raising awareness; below are some methods which may be used:
Staff meetings/ Staff in-service sessions - used to raise awareness and stimulate discussion on how to take the concept forward within schools. Health promotion as a regular agenda item at staff meetings is an effective way to keep staff involved in the school's developments. Taking time to do specific health promotion presentations or workshops is an ideal way of engaging with a number of staff at staff meetings or in-service training days where future developments can be negotiated and planned.
Assemblies - are an excellent way of raising awareness amongst pupils and staff. It is possible to incorporate a degree of participation into these assemblies. Assemblies provide opportunities for launching pieces of work. Some schools have produced eye catching displays of health work following their health promotion assemblies.
Displays - health promotion displays can raise awareness and stimulate debate. These could be examples of pupils' work (e.g. "Confidence to Learn” drawings in the primary) or suggestions for actions from consultations. They can also coincide with events in the school e.g. parents' nights, open evenings, performances, so they can be seen by as large an audience as possible.
Parent Teacher Associations and School Boards - provide opportunities for contacting parents and gaining feedback and views on your school's development as a health promoting school. They are a very good way of "testing out" ideas before sharing them with the majority of the parents.
Newsletters - can be extremely informative for the members of the school community and can work to consolidate and celebrate progress/ achievements. Some schools may wish to develop "Health Newsletters" while others may wish to incorporate information about health promotion work into an existing newsletter.
Parents' evenings - good opportunities for raising awareness about the school’s health promotion activities. As well as being able to inform parents about such work face to face, these evenings provide the opportunity to create displays to inform parents, or to hold a brief consultation with some parents during the evening. Fife Health Promotion Department offers a parent education service where trained specialists will provide informative evening sessions to parents on a variety of health topics.
Your awareness raising process should be evidenced in the form of a short report (see submission portfolio section) . Here you will be asked to detail your methods, dates, the target audience, the size of the target audience and any further details of the process involved.