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Cardiff Council

www.cardiff.gov.uk

Healthy Schools Cardiff Network

​​​​​The Healthy Schools Cardiff Network is a local award scheme managed by the Cardiff Education Service and supported by key partners including the Cardiff and Vale Public Health Team. 

Our scheme has been running since 1999 and is accredited by the Welsh Network of Healthy School Schemes. Funding for all the Healthy School schemes across Wales is provided by Public Health Wales​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​External link opens in a new window

Wales is a leading nation when it comes to health promotion within schools. The Cardiff Healthy Schools Team works with all maintained schools in the capital, including:

  • nurseries, 
  • primary and secondary schools, 
  • special schools and,
  • the pupil referral unit. 



The main goal of our work is to work with these schools to identify relevant actions to maintain and improve the health and wellbeing of pupils and the whole school community. And once these relevant actions have been decided upon, schools can access resources and training provided by our team.

Action areas


There are eight action areas within our framework that schools work on over the course of six phases. The action areas are:

  • ​Nutrition,
  • Physical Activity, 
  • Personal Development and Relationships, 
  • Substance Use and Misuse, 
  • Mental and Emotional Health and​ Wellbeing, 
  • Environment, 
  • Safety, and 
  • Hygiene.  

Each phase takes from one to three years to complete, with the final sixth phase, culminating in the National Quality Award (NQA). At the end of each phase the schools are assessed by a member of the Healthy Schools team along with a partner agency representative. The NQA  is optional for schools that have been on the scheme for at least nine years and have completed phase five. It is an excellence award and can take a few years to complete to national standards.   

When a school has completed all of the work for the final NQA phase, assessment for the award is carried out by national assessors that work across all of Wales.  For schools that opt out of the NQA, they can complete a Local Phase Six. Once a school has completed all six phases, they will be reassessed every two years to ensure health and wellbeing standards have been maintained. 

Our scheme supports Cardiff’s World Health Organisation (WHO) Healthy City status and helps schools to achieve the ‘Wellbeing’ aspect of the Estyn common inspection framework.

We work frequently with partner agencies, such as:


Our aim is to create links across Cardiff and Wales that support our capital city schools reaching their full potential.


Each school has a Healthy Schools coordinator, so if you are a parent or carer and are interested in what your child’s school is doing on the scheme, you can​ contact the school directly for this information.


In 2011 Public Health Wales expanded the funding for this scheme by creating an early years version of Healthy Schools. In Cardiff this is called the Cardiff Healthy and Sustainable Preschool Scheme, and it is coordinated by members of the Healthy Schools team.​

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© 2022 Cardiff Council