Healthy Schools
‘A healthy school seeks to provide a healthy environment that engages all – children & young people, staff, parents/carers and the wider community through a whole school approach.’
(Essex Healthy Schools)
Cooks Spinney Primary Academy and Nursery is an accrediated Healthy School.This means we promote life-long physical and mental health in a variety of ways.
PE
PE
- All pupils have a wide experience of a range of sports and activities. PE lessons provide basketball, football, dodgeball, hockey, netball, fitness, cricket, rounders, tennis, athletics, team building, outdoor education, gymnastics, yoga, dance and multi skills and swimming. A PE curriculum map makes sure the students experience a range of activities so as to find which they would like to pursue in an afterschool club (ASC) at Cooks Spinney or outside school.
- Lunchtime time activities include skipping, basketball, climbing frame, table tennis. Other traditional play time equipment is available such as footballs and goals, netball, hoopla hoops & cricket equipment. CSA offers football & basketball at lunchtimes for the full hour supervised by PE staff on a rota system.
- All Cooks Spinney children run the Mile A Day every morning which is a fantastic whole school achievement.
- An extensive programme of free after school clubs catered for over 504 students in over 19 clubs in the first 2 terms. The clubs are run by external coaches from local sports clubs as well as the PE staff. These clubs include netball, cheerleading, dance, hockey, tennis, football, tag rugby, gymnastics, indoor athletics, Change 4 Life, rounders, cricket, athletics, archery, tennis, new age kurling, boccia, dodgeball, basketball, cross country running, judo providing many opportunities to practice in a more focused environment.
- 205 children have represented Cooks Spinney in BMAT & Harlow sports events and multicultural dance festival, with opportunities for B, C & D teams.
- Teams reached the Harlow finals in dodgeball, badminton, basketball & hockey.
- The PE team of co-ordinator, instructor & apprentice have all had training this year in gymnastics & dance from the Royal Opera House to improve the range and quality of PE lessons.
- Cooks Spinney entered 8 children to the Harlow Festival of Dance for the first time.
- 83% of all year 6 can swim competently and confidently. Our school has won the gold award over 4 years in a row which means Platinum is the next award to achieve in 2020/2021 which would be amazing.
- We also use our Cooks Spinney vision of reaching for the stars by using the 5 stars stickers to promote positivity in lessons and throughout the school. We use all 5 of the star stickers which are Altruistic, Articulate, Adventurous, Ambitious and Adaptable. We allow peers & teachers to choose those who deserve a sticker, they also must explain why so that the students achieving it understands why they were chosen.. The children respond really well to them & are proud to receive the sticker as an award or effort point!
All of our children participate in a wide range of activities in PE lessons and in extra-curricular clubs.
Online resources:
A link to the events we run all year on our PE blog page.
A link to PE activities and a PE home learning page.
Free active families link from Getset4pe.
PSHE, RSE and SEMH
Personal, social, health, economic education – known collectively as the subject, PSHE is a unique subject that builds character and resilience, which are the key contributors in overcoming adversity and creating social mobility. It aims to give young people the confidence that they can achieve amazing things, teaching them to cope with the challenges that life brings and recognise their achievements – because they each have their own, unique potential to fulfil.
PSHE is a subject through which students develop the knowledge, skills and attributes they need to keep themselves healthy and safe, and prepare for life and work in modern Britain. Children in key stage 1 and 2 engage in lessons from our scheme of work which has three core themes: Health and Wellbeing, Relationships, and Living in the Wider World.
From September 2020, schools across the UK have also adopted RSE (Relationships and Sex education). RSE is about the emotional, social and cultural development of pupils, and involves learning about relationships, sexual health, sexuality, healthy lifestyles, diversity and personal identity. RSE involves a combination of sharing information, and exploring issues and values. RSE is not about the promotion of sexual activity. At Cooks Spinney Primary Academy and Nursery, Relationships and Sex education is built into our PSHE curriculum. Please view our PSHE scheme of work and our RSE Policy below for further information.
Further RSE Resources for Parents
Frequently asked parent questions and answers:
Government parent guide to RSE in schools:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/relationships-sex-and-health-education-guides-for-schools
Useful links for talking to your child about Relationship and Sex Education:
https://www.childline.org.uk/searchpage/?query=puberty
www.nhs.uk/Livewell/puberty/Pages/Pubertyinfoforchildren.aspxwww.kidshealth.org/kid/
https://www.nspcc.org.uk/keeping-children-safe/support-for-parents/
Strong social, emotional and mental health (SEMH) is key to leading a happy, fulfilled and independent life. Please visit our mental health and wellbeing webpage to see what we do at school to support and promote this amongst our pupils, families and staff.
Part of the PSHE curriculum is understanding how to stay safe and who we can ask for help. We have had lessons from the Fire Service, Essex Air Ambulance, road safety and first aid lessons and our year 6 attend Crucial Crew, which help them with their transition to secondary school.
PUPIL VOICE
We value our pupils’ thoughts, feelings and ideas about how our school should be run. Each year, every class elects a representative who participates in our Junior Leadership Team. This group meets regularly to discuss matters of concern or interest that are then passed onto the Senior Leadership Team.
In 2019, our Junior Leadership Team were invited to the Houses of Parliament by Harlow’s MP, Robert Halfon, to see how their adult counterparts worked!
Our JLT also participates in the Multi-Schools Council every term. This is a group of SEND and mainstream schools that work together to ensure that every child has a voice and works on breaking down perceptions towards children with SEND and mental health difficulties in schools and their wider communities.
https://www.multischoolscouncil.org.uk/
Our Junior Leadership Team visiting Parliament in the autumn term 2019.
SCIENCE
Science
Through the science curriculum, children learn the importance of being healthy. The curriculum covers different aspects in order to maintain a healthy lifestyle. When children start to learn about science, they are introduced to different types of food when they explore the five senses. By the end of Key Stage 1, children understand the basic needs of feeding, drinking and breathing in order to survive. They are introduced to the term “balanced diet” and begin to explore the correct amount of each food type that should be consumed. Alongside this, children learn about the importance of exercise and the effects it has on their bodies. Finally, children are taught how to maintain good hygiene in order to prevent illnesses and infections.
Children’s understanding is further developed in Year 3 when they learn about the different nutrients the body needs to stay healthy. They understand that certain foods may contain more than one type of nutrient. In Year 4, children apply their knowledge of nutrients and discover what happens to nutrients when they are digested. By the end of Key Stage 2, children understand the impact diet, exercise and lifestyle has on the way their body functions.
Children learn about how they grow and change and how they can maintain a healthy lifestyle with good hygiene and healthy eating.
Online resources:
This website is full of different activities for healthy eating:
https://campaignresources.phe.gov.uk/schools/topics/healthy-eating/resources?page=2
EAT THEM TO DEFEAT THEM
Our school is supporting the Eat Them to Defeat Them campaign to encourage children to eat more vegetables. It's award winning and proven to make eating vegetables more fun. The campaign has been created by Veg Power in partnership with ITV, Channel 4 and Sky and is supported by 10 supermarkets, food labels and other media brands, celebrities and chefs.
Please look out for the reward charts and sticker packs in school bags. To find out more and for great recipes and expert tips please go to www.EatThemToDefeatThem.com
We'll be asking for pupils to send in photos for our website of them eating the vegetables each week and would like them to send in their favourite ways to serve them up.
Our pupil packs were kindly funded by Abbey View, a vegetable grower in Waltham Abbey.
Butterflies class have been busy creating posters to remind everyone to eat more vegetables.
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PAST EVENTS
Green Day 8th July 2021
Cooks Spinney Primary Healthy Schools Week, 8th-12th February 2021
| Smoothie Bowl | Smoothie Challenge |
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| Blueberry and Raspberry | Farrell's Enemy & Eagles Fruit Fancy | Owls Smoothie Bowl |
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| Mango, Strawberry and Apple | Sibling Smoothie | Ms Jordan's Smoothie Bowl |
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| 1.Make it....2. mix it....3. drink it......gone! | ||