Comprehensive School Health

One of the core mandates of the Healthy Schools branch is to promote a comprehensive school health approach. Comprehensive school health is an internationally recognized framework for supporting improvements in students’ educational outcomes while addressing school health in a planned, integrated and holistic way.

Comprehensive school health includes children’s physical, social and emotional wellbeing. It is based on the recognition that health and learning are interdependent – and it goes well beyond what happens in the classroom.

“Comprehensive”, in this context, means addressing health in every aspect of the school environment, including:

• teaching and learning
• the school’s social and physical environment
• healthy school policy, and
• services and community partnerships.

Research has shown that taking this approach is the most effective way to support improvements in children’s health – and in their academic achievement. 

For more information on comprehensive school health, visit the Joint Consortium for School Health (JCSH) website.