Doncaster Council

Customer Story

Healthy Learning, Healthy Lives Programme

The Public Health Team at Doncaster Council provide ‘Healthy Learning, Healthy Lives’, a programme of support, resources and guidance to teachers, professionals and families of children aged 2 to 18 years in Doncaster. The programme includes a free Healthy Learning, Healthy Lives accreditation (formerly Healthy Schools) for local schools, colleges and early years settings. By working towards the award, education settings are able to not only improve the health and wellbeing of children and their families, but also meet a range of local and national priorities.

2

Wheels

94

Settings

207

Accounts

What were you looking for? What challenges did you hope to overcome?

We knew we wanted an online platform to deliver our ‘Healthy Learning, Healthy Lives’ programme. We had some key features that the platform would need to meet; it needed to be easy to use by us in Public Health and by the range of education settings joining the programme (i.e., childminders, nurseries, schools, post-16), and it would need to hold lots of information as the settings would need to submit evidence and we would need to be able to view and comment on this. Our programme was developed in 2017 and at this time there was still reluctance from some to have something that was purely online, and not the paper file system that had previously been used for the ‘Healthy Schools’ programme. We originally piloted a different tool but it quickly became apparent that it was not intuitive and was difficult and onerous to use. We recognised that if there were any issues with functionality or ease of use, we would lose the engagement with the setting so we needed to find an alternative.

Why did you choose The Development Wheel?

We chose The Development Wheel as it is the visual tool we wanted, with the features we required. Create Development having experience with education settings was also a positive, as we feel more confident that the needs of these users are considered by the team. We also had a limited budget, and the cost of the Wheel was deemed to be cost effective.

As soon as we launched the Wheel tool we got positive feedback - it’s well designed and easy to use. Settings love it.

How have you implemented The Development Wheel to achieve your goals?

The Wheel has the supporting material relevant to our programme embedded within it; this helps provide the function of signposting, support, IAG (Info, Advice and Guidance) which is a key part of our programme. We like that it’s all in one place - we tell staff all they need is their log-in and they will find everything they need to work through the award criteria on the Wheel. The RAG rating on the Wheel is liked by settings as they find this helps form an action plan for them to work through.

What impact has using The Development Wheel had at your organisation?

As soon as we launched the Wheel tool we got positive feedback - it’s well designed and easy to use. Settings love it. We specifically included questions about the Wheel in the evaluation of the programme and it received positive responses. We currently have close to 100 settings using it. We are also encouraging settings to keep adding evidence to their Wheel to use as an ongoing portfolio of the work they are doing to support health and wellbeing and by having it in one place they can use this in other ways, such as showing Governors, SLT, and Ofsted.

Would you recommend The Development Wheel to others?

Yes - we are already promoting the ‘Healthy Learning, Healthy Lives’ package of our content with the Wheel to other organisations outside of Doncaster. Our Local Authority is also using the Wheel as part of a workplace wellbeing programme, ‘Be Well @ Work’, along with two other Local Authorities – Barnsley and Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Councils.

We really like the Wheel. It is a huge selling point for us when promoting our ‘Healthy Learning, Healthy Lives’ programme and we feel it is a key part of the success we have had with engaging settings into the programme in Doncaster.

Saima Nazir, Public Health Improvement Coordinator