Bath College has been officially recognised for its dedication to promoting the health and well-being of students, by being awarded the Director of Public Health Award from B&NES Council.
The prestigious award commends the wide-ranging work carried out to instil healthy living among those who attend the College.
The College had to meet rigorous criteria to prove its co-ordinated approach between the Students’ Union, College nurse, the NHS, the council and other health-related stakeholders.
Student Support and Engagement Manager Rob Heyes said the new ‘Healthy FE’ status acknowledges many of the events and activities that the College has staged over the last two years.
He said: “We’re very pleased we’ve been recognised for all our hard work. It’s a great achievement to have engaged so many students in so many health initiatives.
“But we’re not complacent; our health and well-being work is on-going as we continue to set ourselves new targets and work towards new outcomes.
“We are looking to the future and will continue to provide year-round healthy activities at both our City Centre and Somer Valley Campuses. It’s important we carry on informing students how to lead healthier lifestyles.”
The full DPH award is a culmination of the self-reviewed Healthy Certificate and the Healthy Outcomes Certificate which focused on two college-wide case studies.
The College’s innovative smoking prevention campaign encouraged students to question the assumption that most of their peers smoke.
The well-publicised campaign smashed its specific targets of reducing the perceptions of smoking by 10 per cent and encouraging 15 students to give up smoking.
Healthy eating was also tackled with more than 33 per cent of students starting to eat breakfast and 25 per cent of students cooking healthy meals for themselves.
The outcomes were met by showing students healthy cooking options in lessons and giving out recipe cards.
Other initiatives run by the College include sexual health tutorials, drop-in nurse sessions and a college-wide health survey.
Rob and Vice Principal Quality & Students Judy Lye-Forster were presented with the accolade at the Director of Public Health Awards at Bath’s Hilton Hotel.
Music students from Bath College performed at the celebration event, which was attended by up to 10 other primary and secondary schools from across the region.
