Hillcrest Primary School has made an exceptional effort to establish a solid Healthy Schools infrastructure by ensuring a wide representation in the Healthy Schools Steering Group (Wellbeing, Eco & School Grounds committees, members of SLT involved, pastoral worker and a parent governor).

Hillcrest Primary ensures that pupils can express their views on the school’s health and wellbeing initiatives.

The school ensures the inclusion of all voices through having diverse committees, adopting the “Everyone different, everyone welcome” slogan, and having assemblies led in range of languages.

The school invests in supporting staff mental health and wellbeing, through for example, carrying out and responding to staff surveys and focusing on methods to reduce teacher workload.

The school uses a range of opportunities to ensure that pupils stay active throughout the day, for example through taking time for sensory/movement breaks throughout the day, promoting walking to school, installing bike/scooter racks to promote active travel, and having sports coaches for games at lunchtime. They are actively involved in Pupil Voice Surveys, and having both a Wellbeing and an Eco committee puts them in a great place to ensure that the changes being made are driven by the children.

Well done Hillcrest Primary School, keep up the great work!

Bristol Healthy Schools Team,

Communities and Public Health Division,

Bristol City Council

Congratulations to Hillcrest Primary School on achieving the Food Environment Specialist Award!

The school’s submission was exceptionally strong. They demonstrated a variety of innovative ways to improve their school’s food culture and environment.

Hillcrest Primary recently introduced “Diverse Dining” to ensure that packed lunches and school meals can be eaten together. They stagger lunch times to create a calmer environment. This allows for older and younger peers to share experiences and act as role models for each other to promote healthy eating habits, kindness, table manners and develop the art of conversation. They also encourage conversations about healthy food, and classes discuss healthy snacks at break time.

A pupil’s Eco Committee has been established to monitor food waste to reduce waste over time.  They also focus on offering less meat, a range of fruits and vegetables and easy to access foods that are in season.

The school invested in working with Square Food Foundation to equip all teachers with the knowledge and skills to sustain their focus on cooking with the aim to lead these sessions in the future.

The staff at Hillcrest Primary have received training around healthy fundraising. They have stepped away from “traditional” cake and sweet sales during the Year 6 mini enterprise, shifting the focus from selling food and drinks to games, creating jewellery and 3D printed keyrings etc for children to take home. In the past the Eco Committee have set up a farmer's market to sell crops from the schools’ allotment.

Hillcrest Primary ensures that all pupils have the opportunity to voice their opinion and are included in decision making process around school food.

The school’s senior leadership team works closely with the caterers to ensure that the menu options are high quality and offer a wide variety of foods.

Hillcrest Primary School is committed to improving its food environment despite any challenges they may face. They do this by building a strong school community where teachers and students actively contribute and take pride in the school's ethos.

Well done Hillcrest Primary School, keep up the great work!

Bristol Healthy Schools Team,

Communities and Public Health Division,

Bristol City Council

“Mental Health and Wellbeing Specialist Award 

Congratulations to Hillcrest Primary on achieving Mental Health and Wellbeing Specialist Award 

Hillcrest Primary School clearly outlined their commitment to fostering the whole-school mental health and wellbeing. The strengths of their submission included (but are not limited to) the following.  

The schools’ ethos and values now include a wider focus on diversity and makes exceptional efforts to tackle discrimination, promote equality and foster good relationships amongst staff. An example of this includes gaining the Rainbow Flag award to represent their LGBTQ+ community with inclusion and visibility. 

They focus on taking a trauma informed approach to promoting positive behaviours and recognise the importance of creating a safe environment for all children. A good example of where the school creates a safe space is having a 'calm area’ in every classroom where children can choose to go when they need a break. 

Staff have access to training opportunities to support pupil and staff wellbeing. The school also ensure that staff workload is always at the top of the agenda and make changes to support work/home balance. These include no homework at the end of the term, reduced staff meetings during busier periods, PPA at home, and a feedback policy that reduces workload. 

The school invests in developing strong relationships with parents/carers for example, by having Open Door Days, School Tours, weekly newsletters, and using social media channels. They hold coffee mornings for parents/carers of vulnerable and often overlooked pupils. They work hard on improving attendance by building strong relationships with their Family Support Worker and families to discuss and overcome barriers to attendance.  

Hillcrest Primary are particularly proud of their Pupil Wellbeing Committee who contribute to the school community's overall health and wellbeing and help cultivate a sense of belonging, resilience, and mutual support among students. 

Well done Hillcrest Primary School, keep up the great work!”

Healthy Schools Programme Officer

Communities and Public Health Division

Bristol City Council