SGOIL LIONAIL
Comhairle Nan Eilean Siar
Department of Education 

HEALTH EDUCATION POLICY

Introduction     Health Education within the curriculum provides opportunities for young people to value themselves, gain in confidence, and develop skills and knowledge to take responsibility for their own health at an individual level and as participating citizens.  Pupils can develop their self-awareness and self-esteem, recognise their uniqueness, explore attitudes and values, develop personal and interpersonal skills and increase their knowledge and understanding about a range of lifestyles and health issues.  Of particular importance is the need to allow pupils opportunities to explore their feelings and emotions, share and reflect on experiences and discuss issues that are relevant to them and appropriate for their maturity.
 

Aims                Aims of Lionel School are subsumed in the Health Education policy, for example to:

Provide pupils with a safe, supportive, well-ordered and happy learning environment with a health education curriculum that helps the pupils to acquire the relevant knowledge and understanding, not just of the human body and how it works, but also of the social and emotional factors that influence health.  Pupils are encouraged to make informed choices and take appropriate decisions that help to ensure a healthy lifestyle, and links are fostered between school, home and community so that all are involved in a collective responsibility for promoting good health.  We aim to be a whole health promoting school, and also to ensure that productive links are made between curriculum areas or subjects eg Home Economics, PE, PSD, RME and Science.

Objectives        The Health Education policy reflects ambitious, excellent local and national priorities for improvement, shows consistency with education authority aims, and focuses on improving standards of attainment and the quality of pupils’ learning experiences, as follows:

Inclusion          All pupils are entitled to a range of learning experiences in Health Education.  When setting work to pupils with special needs, we refer to those pupils’ Individual Education Plans (IEPs).  We value and celebrate the diversity of our pupils and their families, and we appreciate the enrichment that this brings.

Attainment targets       Health Education components are described in terms of attainment targets at each level, with the three interconnected strands of Physical Health, Emotional Health and Social Health.  The attainment targets are:

Safety Education  - for example, addressing issues such as bullying, safe road use and safe food preparation.

Drug Education - for example, addressing issues such as safe use of medicine, not using harmful substances.

Nutrition Education - for example, addressing issues such as choosing nutritious foods, hygiene.

Sex Education - for example, addressing issues such as puberty, developing sexuality and coping with failure.

Learning and Teaching           The learning and teaching approaches used within Lionel School, together with coordinated planning, should enable pupils to study and understand the attainment targets outlined within Health Education, as follows:

 
Homework       The establishment of good study habits at an early age will contribute greatly towards the future educational success of pupils.  The most important support any parent can give to a student is to show a caring interest in the work done at home - provided the homework is not actually completed by the parent, the sharing of work can only be beneficial.  The school’s homework policy is complemented by advice from parentzonescotland, and there is also good general information on health at healthpromotingschools.
 

Handbooks       The Health Education policy handbook contains detailed information about the work of the departments principally involved.
 

Review            This policy was prepared in 2005 and will be reviewed in 2008.

Ag Amas Air Adhartas – Aiming for Advancement