Enhanced Healthy Schools Status

At Roecroft we aim to meet National Healthy School requirements in the four core areas of:-

personal, social and health education
healthy eating
physical activity
emotional health and well being (including bullying)

We address these important areas not only through the taught curriculum but also through Values Education which supports the emotional, physical and learning environment that the school provides.

We have adopted a whole school approach that

aims to develop an ethos and environment that supports learning and promotes health and well being.

consults and encourages participation of all within the school community

is an effective, evidence based school improvement system which brings about and embeds cultural change in our school.

We all want our children to achieve academically but we realise that for this to happen we need to educate ‘the whole child.’

A successful child is a happy child.
A happy child is more likely to fulfil his/her potential.
Successful learning and teaching will happen within a calm and happy environment.

Values Education ensures that our school provides this environment giving your children the very best chance of becoming independent, reflective learners.

Values Education addresses every aspect of a child’s development in a positive, supportive way.

School Fruit and Vegetable Scheme

The School Fruit and Vegetable Scheme is part of the 5 A DAY programme to increase fruit and vegetable consumption.

All children aged four to six years old in LEA-maintained infant, primary and special schools are now entitled to a free piece of fruit or fresh vegetable at school each day. Most of the schools offer the fruit just before the mid-morning break, usually in individual class groups. The fruits and vegetables are delivered to schools three times a week to ensure freshness. The choices on offer are bananas, apples, pears, and easy-peel citrus such as satsumas, and some schools offer strawberries in season. From the autumn term of 2004, carrots and tomatoes will also be included.

All fruit is washed before consumption, and is not given out at lunchtime. This is to ensure that the fruit supplied is additional, not just replacing fruit and vegetables that might have been eaten at lunchtime anyway.

According to the findings of the pilot schemes among the first 500 schools to join, the scheme has been popular and positive both with teachers and pupils. Teachers found that distributing the fruit in class groups helped encourage a sharing, calm, social time and allowed them to incorporate the scheme into teaching and learning. The scheme is part of the national 5 A DAY programme. Fruit and vegetables are key to a healthier lifestyle and research has shown that on average, children in England eat only two portions a day, with many eating fewer than that.

Further information can be found in the Information for Parents booklet

Information for parents leaflet (PDF, 153 Kb)

Under the Scheme, all four to six year old children in LEA maintained infant, primary and special schools will be entitled to a free piece of fruit or vegetable each school day It was introduced after the NHS Plan 2000 included a commitment to implement a national school fruit scheme by 2004.

Following the success of the early pilots, £42million from the New Opportunities Fund, the largest of the lottery good cause distributors, has been supporting the expansion of the scheme region by region. By April 2004, the scheme was available in the West Midlands, London, the North West, the East Midlands and the North East, covering 1 million children. The Department of Health in January 2004 announced it would take over funding, at a cost of £77million over the next 2 years. The remaining regions of South East, South West, Yorkshire & the Humber, and East of England will join the scheme in Autumn Term 2004.

Further information regarding the School Fruit and Vegetable Scheme can be found at the following link.