GBS Coordinated School Health Program

What is a healthy school? You can probably see it! The school facility is organized, clean and welcoming in ways that are conducive to both learning and health. Staff members, students, families, and community members work together for the good of the school and support one another’s efforts. Creating conditions for healthy, productive learners is the essential focus. Students are engaged! Students, families and staff are preparing and eating nutritious meals. They are physically active, emotionally healthy, and know how to access school and community resources when help is needed. From curriculum to school lunches, from the nurse’s office to the custodian’s closet, from P.E. class to the teacher’s lounge, from policies to practice, the message manifested at the school site is that health promotion and maintenance is a group effort in which everyone has roles, responsibilities and possibilities. Sound like a dream? It’s not! It is a very real vision for what can be achieved when a coordinated school health approach within the Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child Model is made into a reality.

The Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child, or WSCC model, formerly known as a Coordinated School Health Program (CSHP), is CDC’s framework for addressing health in schools. The WSCC model recognizes that schools alone cannot address all of the health issues impacting children and communities. This model emphasizes the role of community partnerships in supporting the school, and promotes the connection between health and academics.

The WSCC model has 10 components:

  • Physical Education and Physical Activity
  • Nutrition Environment and Services
  • Health Education
  • Social and Emotional Climate
  • Physical Environment
  • Health Services
  • Counseling, Psychological and Social Services
  • Employee Wellness
  • Community Involvement
  • Family Engagement