Nova Scotia Health Promoting Schools

Nova Scotia Health Promoting Schools is a partnership led by the Department of Education and the Department of Health Promotion and Protection, and comprises of Nova Scotia’s eight school boards, the Mi’kmaw Kina’matnewey, the province’s district health authorities, and community members. The provincial HPS website will have a dual focus. 1.It will allow for improved internal communications to better coordinate programs and information between key partners by giving regional HPS teams, DOE, HPP and their partners an information portal that would pull together all the programs being offered in an easy-to-access site. 2.The site will also provide parents and educators with links and information to promote health in their own schools, communities and homes. Schools in Nova Scotia are working hard to make school health an important part of everyday life because every kid counts. To review the Nova Scotia Health Promoting Schools Brochure, click here.

Halifax Regional School Board Health Promoting Schools

Our Healthy School is an initiative within the Halifax Regional School Board that encourages and supports each school to take steps toward becoming a health promoting school. According to the World Health Organization a health promoting school is a school that is constantly strengthening its capacity as a healthy setting for living, learning and working. Research strongly suggests that health and education are linked and initiatives that improve the health status of student will help to improve their educational achievements.

A health promoting school encourages all members of the school community to work together toward providing students with integrated and positive experiences and structures to promote and protect their health. This includes both the formal and informal curriculum in health, the creation of a safe and healthy school environment, the provision of appropriate health services, and the involvement of the family and community. Each school determines what the important health-related issues are for their school community and then takes action to address it.

To Learn More about the Our Healthy School Partners, click here

The Health Promoting School Framework's Three Interrelated Components

Practice: the health curriculum and the way in which teaching is taught and delivered

Environment: the values, policies and structures developed to support a conducive school environment for learning, living and working

Partnerships: the partnerships with parents, staff, students and the community such as health care providers and government and non-government organizations

Experience, research and evidence strongly suggest that a comprehensive approach to school health promotion can influence the health-related knowledge, attitudes and behaviours of students. Good health supports successful learning, and education supports good health. A school that works to define and promote health will help children make informed decisions that could help their well-being for years to come. As partnering improves, resources expand and the community approach to health education becomes a way of being.

Our Healthy School Steering Committee together with the Halifax Regional School Board’s Health Promotion School staff work closely with schools and their Health Promoting School Committees in a coordinated collaborative effort, to support and encourage healthy school environments.

To Learn More about Health Promoting Schools, see the links below:

School Health Initiatives in Canada:

• Canadian Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance Quality School Health promotes a comprehensive approach to school health and includes curriculum considerations as well as considerations for school environment, community support, and school services.

• Canadian Association for School Health is a national association composed of 12 provincial/territorial coalitions whose members promote the health of children and youth through school-related health promotion (Comprehensive School Health).

• Chronic Disease Prevention Alliance is a countrywide movement towards an integrated population health approach for prevention of chronic diseases through collaborative leadership, advocacy, and capacity building.

• Health - Comprehensive School Health is an integrated approach to promoting healthy students in healthy schools.

• Healthy Living Strategy Healthy living applies to both the population in general and to individuals. The integrated Pan-Canadian Healthy Living Strategy includes a conceptual basis for sustained action over time that includes a vision, goals, guiding principles, and strategic directions for action.

• Safe and Healthy Schools  is a gateway to information on comprehensive school health and health promoting schools. Provides links to research, reports, how-to manuals, planning and assessment tools, lesson plans, and student webquests.

• School Health Research Network  This network brings together researchers, policy-makers, and practitioners who are interested in school-based or school-linked health promotion. 

International School Health Initiatives:

• WHO's Global School Health Initiative, launched in 1995, seeks to mobilize and strengthen health promotion and education activities at the local, national, regional and global levels.

• The National Health Promoting Schools has information and resources to help schools take positive steps towards better health and well-being.

• ASCD is an educational leadership organization dedicated to advancing best practices and policies for the success of each learner. Our more than 170,000 members in 136 countries are professional educators from all levels and subject areas—superintendents, supervisors, principals, teachers, professors of education, and school board members. This non-profit, nonpartisan membership association provides expert and innovative solutions in professional development, capacity building, and educational leadership essential to the way educators learn, teach, and lead. ASCD proposes a broader definition of achievement and accountability that promotes the development of children who are healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged.