Healthy Schools Framework Practitioner

Terms and Conditions: 2 x Fixed-term posts for two years, 37 hours per week.

Department: Public Health

Interviews dates: 23rd & 24th November 2026

Are you passionate about improving the health and wellbeing of children and young people? Do you enjoy working directly with schools, families and communities to turn good ideas and evidence into practical action?

We are seeking enthusiastic and skilled Healthy Schools Framework Practitioners to help deliver Blackburn with Darwen’s new borough-wide Healthy Schools Framework.

This is an exciting opportunity to work directly with education settings, supporting them to develop a whole-school approach to health and wellbeing that improves outcomes for children and young people, supports attendance and attainment, and helps reduce health inequalities across the borough.

About the role

As a Healthy Schools Framework Practitioner, you will work alongside schools and education settings to understand their needs, identify priorities and put effective approaches into practice.

You will build trusted relationships with school leaders, governors, staff, children, young people and families, connecting settings with the wider support available across Public Health, health services, Children’s Services, Family Hubs and the voluntary and community sector.

You will:

• Support schools to implement the Healthy Schools Framework and embed a whole-school approach to health, wellbeing, attendance and attainment.
• Work directly with education settings to understand their strengths and needs, using local data, evidence and school insight to identify priorities and develop practical action plans.
• Support the implementation of evidence-based approaches across areas such as healthy weight, physical activity, mental and emotional wellbeing, oral health and other locally identified priorities.
• Facilitate training, workshops and learning opportunities for school staff and partners and help develop practical resources that support implementation.
• Build positive relationships with school leaders, governors, staff, parents and communities, acting as an important link between schools, Public Health and wider services.
• Support schools through the Healthy Schools accreditation process, from initial engagement and assessment through to implementation, recognition and ongoing development.
• Work collaboratively with partners including the 0–19 Healthy Child Programme, Family Hubs, Children’s Services, NHS services and voluntary, community and faith sector organisations to ensure schools can access coordinated support.
• Engage children, young people and families in shaping the programme, ensuring their experiences and voices inform what we do.
• Provide additional support to settings and communities experiencing greater challenges, helping ensure resources and interventions contribute to reducing inequalities.
• Monitor progress and outcomes, maintain accurate records and contribute to evaluation, performance reporting and continuous improvement.
• Share learning and good practice across schools, helping successful approaches spread across the borough.

About you

We are looking for people who can combine strong relationship-building skills with the ability to turn public health evidence into practical action.

You will have:

• Experience of working with children and young people, education settings, families, communities, health improvement or a related area.
• An understanding of the factors that influence children and young people’s health and wellbeing and the importance of prevention and early intervention.
• The ability to build effective and credible relationships with schools, partners, families and communities.
• Experience of engagement and participation, with a strong focus on ensuring meaningful co-production.
• The ability to use data, evidence and local insight to understand need and support targeted action.
• Experience of supporting programmes, projects or interventions and working effectively to agreed priorities and timescales.
• Confidence in facilitating meetings, workshops, training or group activities with a range of audiences.
• Strong communication skills and the ability to explain information clearly and accessibly.
• The ability to work collaboratively across organisations while also using your own initiative to solve problems and overcome barriers.
• A commitment to equity and inclusion and to improving outcomes for children and young people across Blackburn with Darwen.
• A degree or equivalent experience in public health, education, health promotion, community development or a related field.

Experience of public health, behaviour change, health promotion, community engagement or whole-school approaches would be an advantage.

Why join us?

This is an opportunity to be part of an ambitious new programme from the beginning and to make a visible difference in schools and communities across Blackburn with Darwen.

You will join a supportive Public Health team committed to prevention, innovation and partnership working. You will have the opportunity to work alongside schools and communities, develop your public health skills and help shape how the Healthy Schools Framework develops as we learn what works.

Most importantly, you will help translate our borough-wide ambition into practical change for children and young people – supporting schools to create environments in which every child has the opportunity to be healthy, thrive and achieve.

Join us and help create healthier education settings, healthier communities and better outcomes for every child in Blackburn with Darwen.

For an informal discussion please contact Gaea.catterall@blackburn.gov.uk