A COMPREHENSIVE school has scooped the top prize in region-wide competition aimed at promoting health and wellbeing. Fred Longworth High School, Tyldesley, won £10,000 for its innovative efforts to promote good health not only among pupils but within the local community. In a contest organised by the NHS Executive North West and titled "Health Challenge Awards" the school ran away with the top prize after impressing judges with their imagination and determination.

Building on the success of its Get "Fit for Freddies Health Week", which involved pupils, parents, friends and relatives sampling the facilities at the school, the school staged a number of activities aimed at promoting greater wellbeing.

Using its contacts with a local supermarket, the school encouraged them to sell healthy breakfasts and planned a series of activity sessions with Wigan Rugby League players.

Using the information gleaned from a survey of students, which uncovered widespread concern about alcohol misuse, the school wrote and then performed in their own work "Think About Drink" which they then took out to venues across Greater Manchester.

A further award was presented to Greater Manchester Ambulance Service which joined forces with Manchester College of Art and Technology to develop the highly successful Doorsafe Project.

At the heart of the scheme was a first aid training programme for staff on the city's nightclub doors.

Doorstaff who completed the course were issued with badges identifying them as first aiders and in total more than 3,000 doorstaff registered their support for the scheme.

This alliance won the organisers a top prize of £5,000. Door staff now report they feel more confident to deal with incidents while the organisers say the scheme has resulted in a turnaround in attitude towards door staff from the public.

Organiser of the Health Challenge Awards, Christine Hughes, said:"We were overwhelmed at the ways people find to encourage schoolchildren, employees and people in the communities to adopt healthy activities.

"Together they can have a huge impact on the health of people in the region and the NHS Executive is delighted to reward and promote their ideas so that others can follow their example."

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