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Tower Hamlets top of class in London Awards

21Tower Hamlets schools have more Healthy Schools London awards than any other London borough, as recognised at the Healthy Schools and Healthy Early Years Celebration Event on Monday, June 22 at the Excel Centre.

Opened by the new Mayor of Tower Hamlets John Biggs, the Healthy Schools London Awards celebrate the work being done to improve the health and wellbeing of pupils in the borough.

The awards are part of an initiative from the Mayor of London recognising schools that have demonstrated a clear commitment to health and wellbeing for their students. Tower Hamlets have more bronze, silver and gold awards than any other borough.

Mayor Biggs said: “I’m delighted to be here to open and support this event. It’s in all of our hands to do something about health in Tower Hamlets and it’s great to see our schools leading the charge across London.

“Education is key to ensuring we all lead healthy, balanced lifestyles and the Healthy Schools initiative has made amazing progress in achieving this. Helping all children in the borough to eat well was also why I pledged to continue to deliver free school meals to all primary school children, going above and beyond the government’s nationwide scheme.”

Monica Forty, interim service head of learning and achievement said: “It’s so fantastic to celebrate all of the schools across Tower Hamlets as they have put in so much work to teach students about healthy eating, physical activity, emotional health and wellbeing.”

The Mayor of London Boris Johnson said: “Congratulations to Tower Hamlets’ schools for their commitment to supporting the health and wellbeing of pupils. I am delighted that Healthy Schools London is having an impact in every borough and hope that even more schools will be inspired to take part in this excellent scheme.”

The council’s Healthy Lives team work with colleagues across London to build a programme that schools are proud to be a part of and improve the health and wellbeing of children and young people between the ages of 0-18 so they can be healthy, happy and achieve.

The team works in partnership across all aspects of children’s health with children’s centres, playgroups, nurseries, child minders, parents and schools.

Esther Trenchard-Mabere, associate director of public health at Tower Hamlets Council, who presented at the awards said: “This work is particularly important in Tower Hamlets as children continue to have significantly poorer health outcomes than their peers elsewhere. This work is a very important part of the council’s drive to improve the health of Tower Hamlets children for many years to come.”