CHERISH: Holistic Health Promotion Efforts In Educational Institutions

Healthy habits, from fitness to nutrition to personal hygiene, formed in the early years of life carry through to adulthood, and shape our lives.

2 Drawing from World Health Organization s Health Promoting School (HPS) initiative (Refer to Annex A), the Health Promotion Board (HPB) and the Ministry of Education (MOE), have been promoting the concept of HPS through the Joint HPB-MOE CHERISH (CHampioning Efforts Resulting in Improved School Health) Award. For the second year running, HPS are recognised for their efforts in promoting the physical, social, mental and emotional well-being of all students, staff and the school community through this Award.

3 Recognising the importance of inculcating good healthy habits in early childhood, HPB has launched the inaugural CHERISH Junior Award this year to recognise pre-schools that have comprehensive and holistic school health promotion programmes for their students and staff.

Joint HPB-MOE CHERISH Award

4 The Joint HPB-MOE CHERISH Award framework was introduced to schools in 2007. With MOE s strong support, the number of schools receiving the Joint HPB-MOE CHERISH Award increased from 289 in 2008 to 315 in 2010. The schools will receive the Award from the Guest-of-Honour, Mr S Iswaran, Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry and Education, at the Joint HPB-MOE CHERISH Award presentation ceremony at Republic Polytechnic on 30 June 2009. Out of the 315 schools, there are 10 new Platinum Award winners, 27 Gold Award winners, 157 Silver Award winners, and 121 Bronze Award winners (See Annex B). This reflects increasing acknowledgement of a holistic approach towards health promotion in schools.

Inaugural CHERISH Junior Award

5 HPB promoted the concept of HPS to pre-schools in 2009. This year, for the first time, 15 pre-schools will receive the CHERISH Junior Award. These Award recipients will help to set the benchmarks for best practices within the pre-school setting, and become role models for other pre-schools adopting the HPS concept.

6 The guidelines for the CHERISH Junior Award allow us to better implement health promoting strategies in our centre. Besides the student s well-being, CHERISH Junior Award also ensures that we promote the health and well-being of other stakeholders like our staff and parents of the students. This is an area which we have been working on, and participating in the Cherish Junior Award, we are better equipped to implement relevant programmes. We are proud to be part of this initiative as it enhances and recognises health promotion efforts in our centre, says Ms Koh Chai Lian, Branch Administrator, PAP Community Foundation, Fengshan Sparkletots Infant and Child Care Centre (Block 184).

7 Schools are one of the earliest points of influence for children, and is the best opportunity to drive the propagation of holistic health habits at an early age. These habits form a foundation of health literacy and awareness that increases as they grow into adulthood. Making children understand the importance of good health as early as possible, even at a pre-school level, will help them go on to live holistically healthy and happy lives, said Mr Douglas McCall, Executive Director of the Canadian Association for School Health, and Keynote Speaker at the presentation ceremony.

8 For more information, please find enclosed the following:

Annex A: Information on Joint HPB-MOE CHERISH Award
Annex B: Joint HPB-MOE CHERISH Award 2010 Results
Annex C: CHERISH Junior Award 2010 Results
Annex D: List of Exemplary Schools