National resources to encourage healthy eating, physical activity, good oral health and wellbeing 

• • Better Health Childhood Obesity resources supports families to make healthier choices and to eat better and move more.  
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  • A downloadable suite of curriculum-linked healthy teaching resources are available on School Zone. These resources include toolkits and calendar wallcharts. There are also other teaching materials for head teachers, reception and year 6 teachers to help them teach their pupils about healthy lifestyles. You need to register and log into the DHSC Campaign Resource Centre to access the School Zone resources. Resources include ideas for whole school activities to encourage eating well and moving more, keeping teeth and gums healthy as well as suggestions for engaging parents. There are also useful resources for teaching mental wellbeing to key stage 1 and key stage 2, such as kindness and recognising and expressing emotions. Teachers can subscribe to School Zone to keep up to date with new materials and campaigns. 
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National resources to encourage healthy eating 

Please also see our Nutrition page.

• • NHS Food Scanner app schools materials: helps families explore what is in their food and drink and swap unhealthy foods that are high in saturated fat, sugar and salt, to healthier choices. The app is free to download from the App Store and Google Play 
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  • Healthy Steps – guidance for schools: guidance for schools to support a ‘whole school approach’ to healthy eating and supporting families. You will need to sign in or register to view this resource 
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  • Standards for school food in England: DfE guidance on the standards for planning and providing food in schools 
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  • School food standards: resources for schools: DfE resources to help schools plan and provide healthy food in schools. Includes the guidance ‘Creating a culture and ethos of healthy eating’, which supports pupils to learn how to keep themselves healthy and make informed choices about healthy eating and fitness 
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  • Free school meals: guidance for schools and local authorities: guidance for schools and local authorities about providing school meals including information on free school meal eligibility 
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  • The Eatwell Guide: summarises government recommendations on eating healthily and achieving a balanced diet 
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  • Let’s Get Cooking: a hub of information about providing healthy children’s food offering 15 training courses for schools and caterers related to improving food for children 
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  • Connects-food: a resource to support primary schools develop a ‘whole school approach’ to food  

National resources to encourage physical activity 

Please also take a look at our Physical activity page

• • Active mile briefings: guidance that provides information about the evidence on active mile initiatives, ideas for how to implement them and examples of practice. It recommends that schools deliver at least 30 minutes of the recommended daily 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity for children 
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  • School Games: a programme to put physical activity and school sport at the heart of schools, giving young people the opportunity to learn through competition 
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  • PE and sport premium for primary schools: DfE guidance on how to invest in sport premium funding to increase physical activity levels 
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  • Physical activity guidelines: children and young people (5 to 18 years): a printable infographic explaining the physical activity needed for general health benefits for children and young people aged 5 to 18 years 
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  • Physical activity guidelines: disabled children and disabled young people: a printable infographic explaining the physical activity needed for general health benefits for disabled children and disabled young people 
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  • The Daily Mile: a simple and free initiative to encourage children to run, walk or jog for 15 minutes every day 
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National resources to encourage emotional health and wellbeing 

Please also see our Emotional Health and Wellbeing Page.

 

• • Relationships and sex education (RSE) and health education: this DfE guidance sets out expectations about what pupils should know by the end of primary and secondary school and includes content on mental wellbeing. 
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  • Teaching about mental wellbeing: this DfE guidance supports its statutory guidance on RSE and health education. It contains practical materials for primary and secondary schools to use to train staff about teaching mental wellbeing. 
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  • Every mind matters top tips: resources for schools offering lesson plans for key stages 1, 2, 3 and 4 to support the RSE and health education curriculum and enable teachers to support the wellbeing of students. 
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  • Promoting children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing: this guidance from the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities and DfE sets out 8 principles of a ‘whole school or college approach’ to promoting good mental health and wellbeing.  
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  • PSHE Association: the national body for PSHE education. Their resource library has lesson plans and assessment tools to help teach on mental health and emotional wellbeing. 
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  • MindEd: a free educational resource on children and young people’s mental health for all adults. It includes content specifically for education staff in schools to support and promote children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing. 
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National resources to promote oral health  

Please also refer to our Oral Health pages too

• • Science lesson PowerPoint – Keeping our teeth healthy: these dental lesson plans are part of a set of school resources to help pupils and their families learn about healthier eating habits. 
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  • Improving oral health: supervised tooth brushing programme toolkit: a toolkit to support commissioning of supervised tooth brushing programmes in schools. 
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  • e-Bug key stage 1 oral hygiene: lesson plans on oral hygiene to help children learn how plaque forms and why and how sugary food and drink can damage your teeth. 
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  • e-Bug key stage 2 oral hygiene: lesson plans on oral hygiene to help children learn how they can prevent tooth decay.