Separate ‘school trips’ for primary, secondary and vocational education during Healthy School Day

A school trip full of stories

The programme immediately got off to an inspiring start with athlete Björn Koreman, who has experienced for himself what the transition from an unhealthy to a healthy lifestyle does to your body and performance. He talked about the setbacks on his path towards more consistent success and about the importance of perseverance. A recognisable story for Healthy School coordinators, who are committed to making a healthy lifestyle a matter of course at their school.

On the buses that took participants to the schools on the programme, they could gain additional inspiration and knowledge. Experts from Rutgers, Stichting School & Veiligheid, the Netherlands Nutrition Centre, the Trimbos Institute and Pharos were there for this purpose.

In conversation: improving the lifestyle of pupils and colleagues

An entire afternoon spent together on the road gets people talking: participants were busy sharing experiences about how they are working to improve the lifestyle of pupils, students and colleagues. Participants from primary education first visited De Ark in Vianen, where wellbeing and treating one another well are important focal points. The pupils themselves talked about their role as mediators: once a week, pupils are tasked with helping resolve disagreements between fellow pupils. As a Peaceful School, De Ark is also involved in establishing the Peaceful Neighbourhood, a project to strengthen wellbeing, cohesion and safety in the neighbourhood.

Floris Radewijnszschool in Leerdam has also been working on the theme of Wellbeing for several years now. The school is very familiar with Kanjertraining, and the team is made aware of the importance of speaking one language and creating a safe environment for the pupils. Judo lessons are given alongside the regular physical education classes, where pupils mainly learn to trust one another, work together and have fun together.

Starting where the energy is

Participants on the secondary education bus described the school visits as valuable: “You always want to visit other schools to see how they do things, but you can’t simply organise this.” The first school on the programme was VSO Heuvelrug College in Zeist. The school is committed to preparing pupils for sustainable participation in society. Healthy School has also been well integrated: pupils receive lessons in social-emotional skills, they have a vegetable garden where they grow their own fruit and vegetables, and exercise areas can be found throughout the school, such as the digital exercise wall.

The trip continued to Houtens in Houten. There, the team started with activities ‘where the energy was’. They then looked at how they could translate this into the Healthy School approach. The school’s Services and Products profile offers many opportunities to work with pupils on a Healthy School. The project on period poverty was particularly inspiring. Research showed that pupils feel ashamed to talk about menstruation. They do not dare ask for tampons or sanitary towels, and some pupils do not have these menstrual products at all because of poverty. Sometimes this even results in them staying at home. To address this, a girls’ toilet block was completely refurbished, and a dispenser was installed where pupils can get free tampons and sanitary towels.

Performing better when you feel good

There were lively discussions on the vocational education bus about the theme of Wellbeing and its broad implementation in vocational education. The consensus was that wellbeing is the foundation. Participants agreed that students perform better when they feel better about themselves.

ROC A12 Dulon College in Ede gave an enthusiastic tour, with a great deal of attention being paid to Healthy School. Vitality is central there, not only for students but also for staff. And in addition to paying attention to exercise and sport, even the catering staff think along about how to present healthy products attractively in the vending machines.

The next destination was the Sport College of ROC Midden Nederland. The vitality lab made a strong impression there. In the lab, students and staff can explore the thematic areas within the Positive Health methodology in a playful way. From this perspective, the school seeks to connect with Healthy School. They are committed to actively working to make students healthier and more vital.

Closing

To end the day on an extra enjoyable note, there was a Healthy School quiz, in which some participants took part enthusiastically. Finally, there was a Healthy Drinks Reception, where all participants came together to exchange knowledge and inspiration.