NEW HEALTH AND EDUCATION PARTNERSHIP LAUNCHED

With children’s mental health problems rising alongside childhood obesity rates and the associated burden on the NHS, the Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH) have today launched an exciting and innovative partnership with Evolve, the award-winning social enterprise, to confront these important societal challenges.

The RSPH intend to build on the success of their successful “Young Health Champion” programme in secondary schools with an equivalent programme for primary schools. Evolve’s experience within primary education, combined with their holistic approach to children’s health and wellbeing, make them the ideal partner to collaborate with to reach a wider audience with their health education and promotion messages.

Project HE:RO (Health Engagement: Real Outcomes) is Evolve’s award-winning programme that delivers health and educational benefits to over 100 primary schools In England and Wales. It helps all children to achieve their potential by improving their physical, emotional and cognitive health and wellbeing. This partnership will enable Evolve to offer Project HE:RO to more schools, academy trusts and local authorities.

Aaron Mansfield, Health and Wellbeing Project Manager (Young People) for RSPH, said:

“…We are really looking forward to working with Evolve and their inspirational team of Health Mentors. They have already developed a highly effective and impactful programme for primary school children and we hope to share this with other schools and widen its growing evidence base for improved life outcomes and the related cost savings to the taxpayer…” 

This partnership follows Evolve’s success at the annual RSPH Awards where it won the Healthy Lifestyles category. The judging panel commented that Project HE:RO has excellent training practices and a superb approach to evaluating impact of its work. It has good sustainability and scalability potential as it links health to educational outcomes and highlights the importance of effective partnership working with schools and local authorities.

Upon receiving this award, Evolve’s Managing Director, John Bishop commented:

“It is always pleasing to receive recognition for your work but this one is special because the RSPH is a highly respected organisation and the other nominees within the Healthy Lifestyles category were all worthy winners themselves. Project HE:RO spans both health and education sectors and we hope that this award will help to bridge the gap that often exists within Government departments and funding agencies, enabling more children to achieve their potential by giving them the best start in life.” 

The next six months will involve Evolve incorporating RSPH messages within its content and the RSPH introducing Project HE:RO to its stakeholders and school partners. The RSPH is also investigating the possibility of formally recognising the work of Evolve Health Mentors within the public health workforce.

For more information about Evolve and its newly created partnership with the RSPH, please contact:

• John Bishop, Managing Director, Evolve, john@evolvesi.com
• Aaron Mansfield, Health and Wellbeing Project Manager (Young People), AMansfield@rsph.org.uk