The HSPSS is delivered in all local authority areas in Wales. Each scheme employs one or more Healthy Preschool Practitioners who recruit and support settings to embed a whole setting approach to health and well-being. This can include direct support to the setting as well as training and accreditation.
The childcare setting will appoint their own lead, who will work with the HSPSS practitioner to plan and implement actions identified. As the settings progress through the scheme, health-improvement measures are expected to be embedded within the day-to-day culture and ethos of the setting to make a lasting difference.
Aims
- To promote actively the development of the positive self-esteem of all members of the pre-school setting community
- To actively develop good relationships in the daily life of the pre-school setting
- To identify, develop and communicate a positive ethos which promotes respect towards all, and a positive approach to health, the environment and the community
- To ensure that all children have the opportunity to benefit from stimulating challenges and the right to play
- To take every opportunity to enhance the environment of the pre-school setting
- To develop good setting/home/community links and shared activities
- To ensure that all children’s emotional well-being is fostered as early as possible
- To develop and implement coherent health activities and experiences
- To establish good links with associated settings and schools to ensure smooth transition
- To develop the setting as a health promoting workplace with a commitment to the health and well-being of all staff
- To develop consistent complementary policies and practice which reflect a positive approach to health and the environment
- To develop partnerships with appropriate outside agencies and individuals for advice, and active support for health promotion and planning in the setting
- To ensure all children in the care of the setting have their rights respected
- To ensure all children feel safe, happy and supported
To ensure staff feel empowered to offer advice and relevant support in relation to health and well-being.
The Hywel Dda Healthy and Sustainable Pre School Scheme
The scheme aims to promote the health of pre-school aged children, their families and carers and recognises the value of early interventions.
Aimed at all preschool children through the childcare organisations they attend, the scheme runs across Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire, prioritising working with those settings in areas of highest deprivation.
Each setting on the scheme is allocated a Pre-School Practitioner who supports the settings.
The Healthy Pre-School Scheme is implemented and accredited in stages called ‘phases’.
Each phase lasts approximately one year. Settings must work to develop and promote the eight specific action areas of the scheme.
- Preliminary Phase - planning health programmes that are coordinated, comprehensive and progressive, benefitting the whole setting community.
- Nutrition and Oral Health - the promotion of a healthy balanced diet based on current national guidance and good practice in relation to oral health.
- Physical Activity / Active Play - support and promote a wide range of accessible physical activities and active play for children and staff.
- Emotional and Mental Well-being including Relationships - encourage mutual respect and promote the mental and emotional well-being of all those who work within it.
- Environment - promote a safe, stimulating environment with an emphasis on caring for the environment within and outside of the setting.
- Safety - a proactive approach to all aspects of safety including work on all substances. Smoking is included in this section but should be considered as a health issue and not just a safety issue. Immunisation is also covered here as a safety issue. Keeping records of immunisation is good practice which is useful in the event of an outbreak.
- Hygiene - to minimise or prevent communicable diseases and their spread and to promote good infection prevention and control practices for staff, children and their families.
- Workplace Health and Well-being - Employers who adopt good working practices will have a happy, healthy and productive workforce, with lower levels of absence
Childcare organisations collect evidence to show they are meeting criteria in all of the above areas.
Support and encouragement is provided through training events, newsletters, resources and visits from a member of the Hywel Dda Healthy and Sustainable Pre Scheme Team.
For more information on Healthy Schools and Pre-Schools schemes in Wales, please visit Welsh Network of Healthy School Schemes (opens in new window)..