The physical school environment : an essential element of a health-promoting school

Environmental challenges and opportunities vary considerably among schools around the world, across countries and within communities. The resources available to schools to manage health hazards vary as widely as the threats themselves, often creating formidable management challenges, particularly in the poorest parts of the world. This document presents strategies to improve the health, education and development of children, families, and community members and aims to help communities recognize, manage, and avoid physical, chemical and biological threats that may exist in or near their schools. The physical school environment encompasses the school building and all its contents including physical structures, infrastructure, furniture, and the use and presence of chemicals and biological agents; the site on which a school is located; and the surrounding environment including the air, water, and materials with which children may come into contact, as well as nearby land uses, roadways and other hazards.
To help people understand the relationship between the environment and health, this document helps identifies key hazards in the places where children learn, and it recognizes children’s special vulnerability and exposure to environmental threats. It demonstrates how positive changes in a school’s physical environment can be supported, reinforced and sustained by school health policy, skills-based health education and school health services, the core components of an effective school health programme. By taking action, health-promoting schools send a message to families and communities, encouraging awareness, and building skills to last a lifetime so that protecting children from environmental hazards becomes a way of life.