Healthy High 5 Award for primary schools

This star is about increasing the amount of physical activity children do during their school day and encouraging healthy habits outside of school. The school must complete 10 minutes of activity in addition to any P.E lessons and must be available to all children.

Purpose and benefits

Government guidance states children should do 60 minutes of physical activity every day. 30 minutes of this should happen in the school day. Participating in physical activities at school reduces childhood inactivity and obesity. When physical activity forms part of the day children often eat better, sleep better and encourage their family members to be active together.

School-based physical activity can improve children’s focus and their readiness to learn. It helps them build relationships, with children often helping and encouraging their peers.

Physical activity also improves the perception of exercise and promotes the idea of self-care. In addition to building their self-esteem and confidence, children spend more time outside in almost all weathers, helping them become better engaged with the outdoors and aware of nature.

Achieving the Physical Activity star

To meet the full standards of HH5 all school pupils must participate in 10 minutes of exercise four times a week. This is in addition to PE classes.

A variety of physical activities can be offered to help keep the children interested and engaged throughout the day. It can be done as a whole school or in classes. Take a look at the ideas below:

• Healthier Families (formerly Change for Life) - Children can play along with their favourite characters in themed 10-Minute Shake-Ups
• PE with Joe Wicks - Fun kids work outs can be accessed on The Body Coach YouTube channel
• The Daily Mile - Pupils walk, skip, jog, or run a mile around the playing field, outdoor playground or school hall. Doing this to music can really help with participation and engagement. You do not have to sign up to the website, track within your school if you prefer, just work out how many times round the field, playground, or area is a mile and off you go! This can happen at any time during the school day, during break or lunch times, before or after assembly, or linking in with tutor time or lessons (in addition to PE). Children benefit from a break from lessons. They can run, walk, skip or move at their own pace. It is free, non-competitive, fully inclusive and fun! It is also a social occasion and can facilitate communication with other children and teachers
• The Golden Mile - Similar to the Daily Mile, facilitated through Premier Education Safe and Simple Initiative, it is accessible to all age groups regardless of ability. Pupils walk, skip, or jog around a Golden Mile track within the safety of the school grounds and then use the downloadable resources to upload and track their achievements. Here is Hampshire Schools and Bassett Green Primary School students showing off their Golden Mile skills
• BBC Super Movers - Fun curriculum linked resources to get your class moving while they learn

Further information

• NHS physical activity guidelines for children and young people
• Childhood obesity: a plan for action
• Childhood obesity: applying all our health
• UK Chief Medical Officers' physical activity guidelines
• Energise Me
• My Journey Southampton - Education
• Living Streets' WOW Travel Tracker

Hydration is particularly important for children as they have higher water requirements in relation to their body weight than adults.

Purpose and benefits

Children do not always recognise the early stages of thirst, which can make them particularly vulnerable to becoming dehydrated. This is especially true during times of increased body fluid loss, for example when they are playing sport or during warm weather.

• Dehydration, even if only mild, can cause:
• Tiredness
• Headaches
• Lethargy
• Lack of concentration
• Reduced mental performance
• Dry skin

Keeping hydrated can also help prevent constipation – visit ERIC for more information. Research suggests adequately hydrated children may have better performance in school.

If you are concerned that a child is not drinking enough or is excessively thirsty, please seek advice from your School Nurse or General Practitioner (GP).

Children should aim to hydrate with plain water. Drinking water as opposed to other drinks can help prevent tooth decay.

In the 2018 to 2019 school year, 23.4% of five year old’s in England had visible tooth decay.

Fluoride is a naturally occurring mineral found in water in varying amounts, depending on where in the UK you live. It can help prevent tooth decay, which is why it is added to many brands of toothpaste and, in some areas, to the water supply through a process called fluoridation. It is important to remember that the water in Southampton City is non-fluoridated so the only available fluoride is via toothpaste or fluoride varnish (applied by a dentist).

The recommended strength of fluoride for children over seven and younger children at higher risk of decay is 1350 to 1500 parts per million (ppm). This information can be found on the back of a tube or box of toothpaste.

It is important to brush at least twice a day with fluoride toothpaste, last thing at night or before bedtime and one other time, avoiding rinsing after brushing. This combined with a low frequency sugar intake will help to lower the risk of tooth decay.

Achieving the access to water star

To meet the full standards of HH5 children must have consistent access to drinking water during lessons, when having their lunch and at morning and after school clubs. Schools must also encourage drinking water and staff members should be role models in drinking water and keeping hydrated as one way to help keep healthy. Schools should encourage parents to send children to school with a water bottle to drink during lessons (in some Southampton Schools this is provided) and at mealtimes (if not facilitated by the school). Schools might want to update or improve existing water fountains if needed.

Good oral hygiene should be encouraged by:

• Focusing on dental hygiene
• Sending newsletters home to parents with dental health messages
• Having school assemblies focusing on oral health
• Displaying posters in school (these could be designed by children)
• Following the PSHE curriculum

For more information

Visit the British Nutrition Foundation (BNF) website, which includes a healthy hydration guide.

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has developed fluid requirements for children of different ages:

More information about dental health

• Public Health England (2017) Health matters: child dental health
• Delivering better oral health: an evidence-based toolkit for prevention 
• Fluoride (NHS.UK)
• National Smile Month - The Oral Health Foundation will be raising awareness of important oral health issues around different themes each year
• Free dental resources (Oral Health Foundation)
• Oral health in schools (Oral Health Foundation)

To ensure that pupils maintain a healthy weight, food served in schools and academies in England must meet the school food standards so that children have healthy, balanced diets. The aim of this star is to make every meal nutritionally count for pupils.

The school food standards apply to all maintained schools and academies that were founded before 2010 and after June 2014. They must provide:

• High-quality meat, poultry or oily fish
• Fruit and vegetables
• Bread, other cereals, and potatoes

There cannot be:

• Drinks with added sugar, crisps, chocolate, or sweets in school meals or vending machines
• More than two portions of deep-fried, battered or breaded food in a week

View the healthy eating standards for school meals on GOV.UK.

The School Food Plan has published practical guidance to help school leaders and governing bodies adopt a whole-school approach to food, and to help schools create a culture and ethos of healthy eating.

Childhood obesity: a plan for action chapter two was revealed in 2018, detailing the impact of childhood obesity on children’s health and the increased likelihood of children developing long term conditions such as type two diabetes and liver problems.

Purpose and benefits

Childhood obesity and excess weight are significant health issues for individual children and their families. Being outside of a healthy weight can have serious implications for the physical and mental health of a child, which can then follow on into adulthood. The numbers of children who continue to have an unhealthy and potentially dangerous weight is a national public health concern. It is known that about 40% of overweight children will have increased weight during adolescence and 75−80% of obese adolescents will become obese adults.

In Southampton, rates of childhood obesity exceed the national average and the burden of childhood obesity is being felt the hardest in the most deprived areas of the city.

Achieving the healthy lunch, breakfast and after school club star

To meet the full standards of HH5 schools should clearly demonstrate that they are working towards the School Meals Healthy Eating Standards. School pupils also need to take part in sessions regarding healthy foods and what constitutes a healthy lunch box. Clear guidance for parents should be available in the school handbook, on newsletters, on the school’s website, and when addressing new parents to the school. Healthier Families has some great healthy lunch box ideas. Schools should also ask parents to send children to school with water as a drink (as part of their packed lunch) if not facilitated by the school.

Small healthy changes can add up to big differences. An example of a change might be introducing a salad bar for students or asking for chocolate or crisps to be put in a child's lunch box on one selected day of the week only, for example No Crisp Friday. Reach out to your school food provider and chat with dinner staff to discuss what changes could be made.

For more information

• Healthy eating standards guidance - GOV.UK
• Obesity, healthy eating and physical activity in primary schools
• Ofsted: school inspection update - December 2015
• Providing evidence for Ofsted - Food for life
• Tacking childhood obesity in Southampton
• Healthier lunch boxes - Healthier families
• City Catering

Being ‘mindful’ means being calmly aware of your body and mind by focusing on the moment. Mindfulness means to focus on ‘now’. Developing concentration, increasing focus attention and listening skills and relaxation are parts of mindfulness. Mindfulness is not associated with religion.

Purpose and benefits

Mindfulness improves concentration and listening skills, refocuses the mind and encourages relaxation to help support emotional health.

Studies show that mindfulness can increase focus, attention, self-control, classroom participation and compassion in children. As well as improved academic performance, their ability to resolve conflict and overall wellbeing. Mindfulness can decrease levels of stress, depression, anxiety and disruptive behaviour.

See also the Young Minds website, which also has details specifically about coronavirus advice and mental health support.

Achieving the mindfulness minute star

To meet the full standards of HH5 all school children should engage in one minute of mindfulness four times a week.

Schools can achieve the Mindfulness minute star by introducing mindfulness to pupils on a very basic level, such as by encouraging them to use senses like touch, taste, smell, sight and hearing. For example, listening to classical music or reading guided imagery stories.

This could be done as a whole school before or after assembly or used as a class-based approach to help refocus the class after or before an activity. It could also be useful after break or lunch period.

Touch base with your schools linked Mental Health in Schools Team practitioner who can provide you with some more ideas or support.

Mindfulness ideas

• Paying attention to a sound - What do you notice within the sound clip?
• Listen to classical music for one minute - What instruments could you hear? 
• Sounds of a chime – Listen to a clip for one minute and focus on the sound
• Texture bag - Put a selection of objects with different shapes and textures into a bag. Children take turns putting their hands in, feeling one of the objects and describing it to the others, in as much detail as possible, without looking at it
• Describing emotions - Sit in a circle with the children and ask them to describe different emotions. How does it feel when they are angry, happy or worried? You could prompt them by suggesting that they visualise their emotions as colours or types of weather
• More examples are available in the Information Pack for Schools, provided when you sign up

For more information

• Youth Mindfulness – A project that delivers courses in mindfulness to children in schools. Testimonials and feedback are available on their website
• Mindfulness in Schools – Although it does not deliver mindfulness directly in schools, this project provides training to adults to teach its mindfulness courses to children and young people in schools
• Mindfulness in Schools project
• Every Mind Matters Campaign - Part of the Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education (PSHE) curriculum to KS2, KS3 and KS4
• Evidence of the impact of mindfulness on children and young people

Growing plants and foods in schools is an important learning opportunity. It encourages and facilitates learning and is particularly relevant to science and emotional health.

Purpose and benefits

Being involved in growing and caring for plants helps build life skills as well as encourage enterprise, employment-related and horticultural skills.

Activities like gardening can improve awareness and understanding of the natural environment and its importance to us. Being aware of nature and our surroundings also promotes health and wellbeing, particularly in relation to diet and nutrition.

Achieving the nurturing nature star

To meet the full standards of HH5 children should be involved in growing or caring for a plant once a term.

This can be achieved by:

• Growing seeds in window seal boxes
• Turning an unused piece of land in the school grounds into a vegetable patch
• Involving children in the whole process of preparing the land all the way through to picking and preparing the produce
• Following the journey of foods from planting to being served on the school menu

This can also be linked alongside relevant curriculum and science modules.

Challenges can be used to create greater interest from the children, such as growing the tallest plant, biggest tomato, longest cucumber, or highest cress.

Termly ideas

• Autumn: Cress or snap peas – can be grown at any time
• Winter: Chives germinate in two weeks. Celery can be grown from the bottom of a celery stalk. Place the bottom of the celery in water, let it grow roots, then move to a pot. Roots appear after around eight days
• Spring: Wheatgrass can be grown in egg shells to form ‘hair’, it just needs water. For nasturtiums, sprinkle the seeds into prepared soil. Plants appear within 7-10 days
• Summer: Sunflowers are quick and easy to grow. Tomatoes can be grown in grow bags