Primary school pupils make pledge for healthy lifestyles
Thursday, 18 December 2025
Pupils in a Cheshire West and Chester primary school are finding new ways to stay active and make healthier choices every day.
The Oaks Community Primary School in Ellesmere Port has successfully adopted the School’s Pledge for a Healthy and Active Future, a framework for primary schools which promotes eating well, being active and overall wellbeing across the school community.
As part of the School’s Pledge, the Oaks Community Primary School has introduced a water or milk-only drinks policy, placed a stronger focus on healthier snacks and packed lunches, and is actively promoting free school meals to ensure all pupils have access to nutritious food.
Pupils also wear an Always Active Uniform so they’re ready for activity at any time, while teachers encourage more movement during lessons and playtimes.
The School’s Pledge for a Healthy and Active Future programme is funded by NHS Cheshire and Merseyside and has been developed by public health charity Health Equalities Group (HEG) in partnership with public health teams across all nine of Cheshire and Merseyside’s local authorities.
HEG is currently working with 68 schools from the 20% most deprived areas across Cheshire and Merseyside and has developed a School’s Pledge network to foster peer support throughout the programme.
David Wearing, Headmaster at Oaks Community Primary School, said:
“We decided to adopt the School’s Pledge as we feel its fundamental to all our pupils in getting them to move more, eat healthier and improve their overall wellbeing.
“It ties in perfectly with the plans we already had in place as a school and gives our children the best start during their primary school years to lead healthier and active lives which hopefully they can take forward into the future.”
Year five pupil Caden said:
“We have something called the daily mile, which is an afternoon run around the playground, but we are thinking of adding in a racetrack near to the goals and trim trails that we have already.”
While fellow pupil Ellis said:
“If you bring in an unhealthy item and you don’t want to eat it, you can swap this for some fruit or vegetables. You can also get water and if you’re seen drinking water, you can receive a badge or a sticker to wear.”
The healthy initiative is an example of the NHS’s shift from treating sickness to focusing on prevention; a key ambition of the 10 Year Health Plan for England.
Ceriann Tunnah, Associate Director of Population Heath at NHS Cheshire and Merseyside, said:
“Schools are our future population so we’re working with them to embed healthy behaviours for them to take forward.
“We’re focused on preventing people from becoming sick, rather than waiting to treat people once they become sick. When we support people to make positive choices about their health and wellbeing, we reduce the likelihood of illness later on in life.”
Matthew Philpott, Executive Director at Health Equalities Group, said:
“The School’s Pledge programme for Cheshire and Merseyside has seen incredibly strong engagement from our 68 participating schools and colleagues from local authority public health teams over the last 12 months.
“We are currently working with researchers from the Open University to evaluate the impact of the programme on school environments and will be publishing a report with key findings from the programme in Spring 2026.”
Professor Helen Bromley, Director of Public Health at Cheshire West and Chester Council, said:
“It’s wonderful to work with our local schools to take forwards the School’s Pledge.
“We are all acutely aware of the many competing priorities that schools face, but this programme seems to have slotted in easily.
“It provides our schools with clear, evidence-based ways to improve food and physical activity, while also helping us to understand the amazing work already going on – and, as you can see from The Oaks, schools are doing an amazing job.
“These initiatives are really important in giving schools the tools they need to make positive change for the health and wellbeing of their pupils, staff and communities.
“They put eating well and being active high on the agenda, helping children and families understand why making better choices is important and helping them to benefit from this physically, mentally and academically too.”
To find out more about the School’s Pledge for a Healthy and Active Future and to hear from the staff and pupils at The Oaks Community Primary School and partners involved, click here to watch a short video.