Really Healthy School

Country of implementation

Czech Republic

Type of the practice

Non-formal education, Community development, Early childhood education

Initiator of the practice

NGO: Skutečně zdravá škola, z.s.

Type of education

Non-formal education, Community development, Early childhood education

Age of participants

Preschool to secondary

How many participants max can participate

N/A

Education form

Blended

Short description

Skutečně zdravá škola is a civic initiative to improve the quality and sustainability of school meals and educate children about food with aim to increase the population’s health and develop local economies, sustainable forms of agriculture, and food distribution. As a framework, the programme sets goals and standards and at the same time addresses the specific individual framework conditions of each individual school. Each school has its own school blog. By means of a certification system, the participating schools are interconnected. Everyone is involved, within and beyond the school. Around the theme of healthy and environmentally conscious nutrition, simultaneous awareness-raising, school development, and strengthening of regional economic cycles take place. A successful combination. Simple, complex, and innovative in the process. Really Healthy School won a SozialMarie prize for Social Innovation   So far, 508 kindergartens, primary and secondary schools with 81,789 children, pupils and students have participated in the Really Healthy School program.  

All registered schools will receive:

  • Access to advice and help from regional program coordinators
  • Access to online aids to meet program criteria
  • Access to an online database of verified educational farms throughout the Czech Republic
  • Invitations to educational events and seminars in your region
  • Your own blog page on the program website
  • Information about your school in our online database and map on our website

Schools that meet the criteria:

  • They may use the award logo
  • They will receive a certificate to display at school
  • They will receive an invitation to our annual awards ceremony

Strengths

This is a nationwide programme with hundreds of kindergartens and schools have registered to participate.    Participation in the Really Healthy School and Kindergarten program brings benefits:   It enriches the school’s educational program with new educational and educational elements and project teaching and helps to fulfill the educational field of Health Education and the cross-cutting theme of environmental education.   87% of participating schools say that the activities of the Skuteč zdravá škola program help children and pupils to acquire the competences needed for an active civic, professional and personal life.    97% of participating schools say that the Really Healthy School program helps students develop new skills, values ​​and attitudes that will lead to more sustainable societies.   Pro pedagogy:   It creates opportunities and possibilities for using experiential and project-based forms of learning and enriching teaching with a new topic – food. It will help you fulfill the cross-cutting topic of environmental education. Lots of new methodological materials available for free.    39% of the participating schools definitely agree and 51% rather agree with the statement that the implementation of the Really Healthy School program enables the introduction and use of experience-oriented pedagogical procedures, the active involvement of pupils in the educational process and participation and cooperation.    34% of the participating schools think that the implementation of the Really Healthy School program certainly enables the introduction and use of pedagogical procedures oriented towards teaching outside the school, in contact with the real world, 61% of the schools think that rather yes.

Challenges in implementation

This is a nationwide programme that could not be replicated as a whole in an individual school or training institution. Moreover, it requires the participation of the entire school staff including kitchen or canteen workers making it more complex to be implemented. Finally, it involves the active engagement of the entire regional economy since it dictates that “school canteens buy raw materials from local farmers, grocers and distributors, which is not always easy to achieve.

Link

https://www.skutecnezdravaskola.cz/