Education

> Education > Healthy Schools Bus

The Healthy Schools Bus is a groundbreaking initiative that is the first of its kind in the country. The first Healthy Schools Bus was launched in October 2006 as a result of an innovative partnership that harnesses the resources of The Everton Foundation, Liverpool City Council and transport company Arriva.

The initiative uses Everton Football Club-themed buses that have been adapted into mobile interactive classrooms that visit schools with the aim to create healthier and happier youngsters who are better informed about nutrition, fitness and lifestyle. We aim to provide a unique environment for learning and understanding by equipping our buses with the latest interactive teaching Promethean technology.

Co-ordinated by Everton Ladies and England international goalkeeper Rachel Brown, the programme focuses on 4 core themes:

• Healthy eating
  
• Physical activity
  
• Personal, Health and Social Education (PHSE)
  
• Emotional health and well-being
  

The first bus is involved in a 4-year programme that aims to visit all primary schools in Liverpool, starting with year 3 pupils and visiting them as they progress through years 4, 5 and 6.

Following the success of the first bus, The Everton Foundation launched a second Healthy Schools Bus in the spring of 2008. This bus is much like its predecessor and is furnished with a Promethean interactive whiteboard (including interactive voting pads), together with facilities to use laptop computers. Also on-board is a computerised running machine, which monitors a child's heart rate and fitness levels as part of the interactive lessons.

The Healthy Schools bus programme has been so successful that over the last year alone our buses visited an estimated 200 schools, reaching approximately 15,000 primary school children.