Q: What does DASH stand for?

DASH stands for Dedicated Action for School Health.

Q: What is a Healthy School?

The World Health Organization defines a healthy school as one that consistently strengthens its capacity as a healthy setting for learning, playing, and working. In a healthy school, students have many opportunities- in the classroom, and in every aspect of their school experience- to foster their healthy physical, mental, social and intellectual development.

The key premise of a healthy school is that healthier students learn better and that better educated students are healthier. Healthy schools, also known as health-promoting schools, work with partners from the health and education sectors, and with those from the boarder community, to help students to develop healthy habits that will last a lifetime. To steer and support their efforts, many healthy schools adopt a Comprehensive School Health (CSH) approach. To learn more about this approach, click here to view a video introducing CSH.

Q: What is the difference between Healthy Schools and School Health?

School health promotion has been practiced in virtually every industrialized country for well over 50 years. What’s different today is the model and approach used. There has been movement away from a medical model to a comprehensive or “whole” school approach, with a  healthy living focus embedded in all aspects of the broader school environment (2008 JCSH Annual Report). That whole school approach is now what is known as “healthy schools”.