Rosehall High School had for many years been operating as a health promoting school and South Coatbridge's successful application in 1999 for Social Inclusion Partnership (SIP) status provided the opportunity to design and develop the Healthy Lifestyle project.
The project targets health behaviours, self-esteem and raising achievement with socially disadvantaged young people and complements health promoting schools and Hungry for Success.
Within the Healthy Lifestyle project a cyclical planning model is in place:
- audit – projects based on local need
- project development – develop initiative and implement
- evaluation – project tries to evaluate all initiatives – external evaluation by Kevin Lowden, Senior Researcher, Scottish Council for Research in Education (SCRE), Glasgow University
- amend and adjust – using review and evaluation make appropriate amendments and adjustments.
The Healthy Lifestyle project tries to ensure that initiatives it is developing are based on evidence; hence the need for the audit and evaluation aspects of the project.
In addition to this they do not want the initiatives to be seen as ‘bolt-on’ but indeed very much part of the curriculum and a whole school approach to health improvement.
Rugby
The Community Youth Rugby Initiative is just one part of a range of health promoting activities that have been developed. In total seven secondary schools in the area are involved in the community rugby initiative with the main aims as follows.
- To consolidate a community link between all the surrounding secondary schools and the local rugby club, Waysiders/Drumpellier RFC.
- To plan, organise and deliver a health education and coach education programme using the peer-led Youth Ambassador model. This model seeks to recruit, train and educate local young people in order to achieve sustainability for the initiative within the community.
- To provide a meaningful opportunity for locally recruited SVQ Sports Apprentices - in conjunction with the Healthy Lifestyle project, Scottish Rugby Union (SRU) and Waysiders/Drumpellier RFC - in order to build an inherent capability within the community.
- To provide a positive experience that raises self-esteem, social skills and awareness of others.
- To create a meaningful, positive experience, using rugby as a medium to promote improved health behaviour and a diversionary strategy away from youth crime in the local community.
