Healthy Schools Initiative

This national scheme encourages schools to develop a whole school approach to health promotion. It focuses on relationships; curriculum development; liaison with the wider community and above all, the well-being and care of individuals in the school.The scheme currently operates in over 90 schools across Trafford.

Walk to school week: The children at St Margaret Ward have been keeping fit and healthy and doing their bit for the environment, by swapping the car for walking to school instead.
The last two weeks of October 2009 saw all our children participating in Trafford's annual 'Walk to school' fortnight. All children were given a special passport, which was stamped each day they arrived at school on foot or by public transport.

Over 120 children won a small prize for completing the fortnight with a fully stamped passport. Their names were entered into a draw for the grand book token prize. Mia, in Class 1 was delighted to be the lucky overall winner of the 'Walk to School' prize.

Vegetable Plot- Summer 2009- A group of our Junior children, guided by Mrs Caffrey, have been busy tending to their vegetable planters and now have potatoes, carrots, onions and sunflowers growing. The children helped to plant the seeds, water them regularly and hopefully we will be able to sample the produce very soon.

SMW Student Council
Our school council which comprises of children representatives from each of the junior and infant classes meets regularly to voice opinions and share ideas about our school.

They have been very busy in recent months preparing for the opening of our new classroom block and organised a toy fayre which raised £186 towards the cost of new furnishings.They have also taken part in discussions with the lead architect about the colour scheme for the new classrooms and associated toilets. It is heartening to see the children collaborating so well together on real projects, where they can see tangible results.

OLLIE THE OWL JOINS IN THE FUN - The majority of our children enjoyed a free school meal on Wednesday 8 October 2008 to celebrate our wonderful new and long awaited kitchen facility. They were particularly excited to be joined by Ollie the Owl, the school meals mascot, who joined in the fun and activities of the day.
We would like to thank Karen Galvin, Communications and Media Officer with Trafford Council for these terrific photos.

The children enjoy their free school meal

HEALTHY SCHOOLS AWARD: In November 2007, we were officially presented with our Healthy Schools Award,a national recognition of the effort our school has made towards improving the health of our school community. Healthy eating and and physical activity are key areas along with emotional health and well being. We had to provide a bank of evidence to demonstrate that we met the criteria for the award and then underwent a formal assessment.

During the award ceremony at the Waterside Theatre, a group of our Year 6 children performed a short rap, describing why they think St Margaret Ward is such a special school, based on ideas submitted by other classmates.(This paragraph of thoughts can be found on Our School webpage.)They were then presented with a plaque which is now on display in our entrance hall.

Mrs Fagan, Mrs Gavin and children

Healthy Eating: As part of the Healthy Schools Initiative, free fresh fruit is distributed daily to all of our nursery, reception and infant children, with all other children encouraged to bring only fruit for break time.

School Meals Week:Throughout the year we have various school meal 'theme' weeks, including our 'Food4sport' when the children were invited to dress in track suits or sports clothes and join in competitions and fun activities.

Our children are always encouraged to choose healthy options and a healthy balanced diet is offered daily.
A wide selection of salad options are available each day from the popular salad bar.

Health Education- The installation of a water fountain in the junior block has also encouraged the children to drink more water. Recent studies suggest that concentration levels improve with regular water intake.

Breakfast Club - This popular club opens at 8am each morning, offering the children a healthy breakfast of fruit juice, cereal and toast as well as a safe, warm environment to play in before they join the rest of the children at 8.55 to line up in the playground. It costs £1 per child per session which represents great value and children can be signed in for any number of mornings each week.

Physical Activity: Active Playgrounds- our children are encouraged to take part in healthy activities and they now have an interesting variety of games and equipment to play with at
	break times, including softball tennis, skipping ropes, footballs, a huge parachute and numerous other fun items. We are currently introducing the 'Fitbods' program to develop this area further.

Sport- we promote physical activity by offering a variety of sporting activities during P.E lessons as well as at after school clubs. Just take a look at our sports page for more examples of our sporting achievements.

Tesco Vouchers for Schools - Through the considerable efforts of parents, families and parishioners of St Margaret Ward School and Parish, we have raised an incredible 40,000 vouchers this year(2009). A huge thank you to everyone who contributed their vouchers which will go towards the purchase of resources and equipment for our school.

Safety:
Our St Margaret Ward Junior Road Safety officers promote walking to school and general road safety awareness to all our children by running competitions for each year group and highlighting safety issues.

Each year a group of our Year 5 children are appointed as our Road Safety Officers.

Crucial Crew-our year 6 children take part in this informative and educational course on personal safety.Representatives of the Fire, Ambulance and Police Services involve the children in exciting educational activities about a wide range of safety issues.The children learn many things that will hopefully help them to make the right choices in situations later in life.

Cycling Proficiency instruction-each year, instructors from Trafford Road Safety Unit run a Safer Cycling course for our year 6 children. More details can be found on our visitors page.

Police Liaison and Drug and Alcohol Awareness - our community police liaison officer 'Rick' talks to our junior classes on the role of the police in the community.Our children have also been made aware of the dangers of drugs and alcohol abuse by Trafford's liaison officer through an informative series of lessons, which focus on making good choices.

Self esteem:
Residential weekends-each year our Year 5 and 6 children experience a range of activities including canoeing, abseiling and team building challenge games at the Robinwood Activity Centre in the Lake District.

Attendance Awards - each week, the class with the highest attendance is presented with a certificate at assembly and we are extremely proud of the fact that each class is generally above the national average.
Children with perfect attendance each term are awarded their own individual award certificates and are entered into a prize draw at the end of the year.
Parents are updated termly about their child's attendance as a good attendance record is vital if any child is to reach their potential.

School environment and surroundings:
Flower beds and bulb planting - members of our PTA plant and maintain several flower beds and containers around our school grounds, which greatly enhance our surroundings.Earlier in the year, a working party spent two Saturday mornings moving soil and developing the play area and gardens around the Foundation buildings.

Courtyard - children and parents look after and develop our courtyard area with bedding plants and bird feeders.
Litter picking - volunteer children from Years 1 to 6 keep our school grounds tidy by using litter pickers.

Family Links:
See our Parents Page for more information on the various computer and internet safety sessions held for parents and family members.Throughout the year, parents and families are welcomed and encouraged to attend class masses, assemblies, concerts and events, as well as informative meetings.

Social events- throughout the year our hardworking Friends of St Margaret Ward organise many popular family events ranging from family bingo, discos, sponsored walks and swims, car boot sales and the joint Parish/Friends Family Fun Day.

Our school *Foundation * School calendar * Fun page * Friends * Recent events * Sports * Gallery * Parish * Parents Page