Fanø School

Denmark

Pupil Well-being

- From Classroom to School-wide Effort

Focus Area

Well-being

Target Group

All pupils at the school

By Jeppe Valbjørn (Teacher), Mia Schøler (teacher), Gro Mertner Vind (Teacher) and Sasja Pedersen (Behavior, Contact, and Well-being teacher), Fanø School, Fanø, Denmark

Editor: Anette Schulz, SHE, Denmark

Purpose and Goals of the Pupil Well-being Project

The purpose of the pupil well-being project was to strengthen pupils’ well-being – initially focusing on the transition from 6th to 7th grade, when new classes are formed, and some pupils may find it challenging to adapt to new class environments.

As the project progressed, the initiative was expanded to include the entire school, aiming to ensure a cohesive approach to the school’s well-being efforts.

The following objectives were established for the school’s efforts:

- Develop an annual plan for well-being initiatives across all grade levels, based on evidence-based teaching materials.

- All teachers become familiar with well-being-promoting practices.

- All teachers base their well-being work on each individual pupil and their previous experiences.

- Establish a steering group to support the school’s ongoing health-promoting initiatives. Tasks for this group include gathering materials, providing support and courses, and setting an annual well-being focus (e.g., sleep, screen time, physical activity).

The following objectives were established for the school’s efforts:

- More pupils should thrive both in and outside of school.

About Fanø School

Fanø School is located on the island of Fanø, which has approximately 3,500 residents and is part of Fanø Municipality. As the island’s only school, Fanø School serves around 350 pupils from the municipality, who mostly come from resourceful backgrounds. However, a smaller portion of the pupils come from less resourceful families, which contributes to the school’s diverse pupil composition.

In 2023, Fanø Municipality’s City Council adopted new school policy goals, developed in close collaboration between the Children and Culture Committee and the school board. These goals focus on promoting pupil well-being and developing their social skills, with a strong emphasis on parental collaboration as an essential part of the well-being efforts.

The school’s vision emphasizes that learning involves more than just academic subjects. It is built on the belief that well-being – both social and academic – is a fundamental prerequisite for learning. As stated in the goals: ‘At Fanø School, we believe that the foundation for learning is pupil well-being—both socially and academically. At Fanø School, we teach pupils how to learn and strengthen their ability to act in a changing world. They learn from adults who are present and professionally skilled, and from peers who understand what it means to be a good friend – all within a daily life of academic challenges that are varied, expansive, and constructive.’

Fanø School thus works purposefully to create a school environment where pupils can develop on both personal and academic levels, supported by a close-knit community and strong relationships between pupils, teachers, and parents.

The school policy goals for Fanø School can be found here.

Finally, TOGETHERNESS was introduced as the school’s central focus, with the following goals:

- Strengthen the focus on community rather than the individual among pupils, teachers, and parents.
- More pupils should experience being part of safe communities that embrace diversity.

Pupil Well-being Project – A Project in Progress

The project on shared and preventive well-being efforts at Fanø School has been a long and educational process, evolving through several phases and involving both challenges and successes.

Starting Point: Class Merging

The project began with the merging of 6th and 7th grades as a first step in preventive efforts. Although the class merging was implemented independently of the project itself, it was a necessary change to create better dynamics among the pupils. Subsequently, the school decided that this structure would be used moving forward in the transition between the intermediate level (6th grade) and secondary level (7th grade). When we entered the project, we were not yet clear about our precise focus, but because the class merging and pupils’ well-being were significant daily concerns, it became natural to choose well-being as the starting point for our project.

Joint Training Days and Consultant Support

As part of the project’s development, several training days were organized, where we received instruction on key elements related to health-promoting school initiatives in general. Additionally, we utilized consultant support, with one of the instructors visiting the school to assist us in the development process.

Jeppes’ Presentation Faces Resistance

A milestone in the implementation was Jeppe’s presentation at the teacher meeting, where the project was introduced to the entire teaching staff. The project met with some resistance, as several teachers felt that their daily work on well-being was undervalued. At this point, it also became clear that well-being should be a shared focus across all grade levels.

Lack of a Playbook and Deputy Principal's Departure

Work began on creating a shared “playbook” for preventive well-being efforts, but there were still many loose ends. In December 2022, the deputy principal resigned, resulting in a loss of leadership support for the project.

Testing

In the 2022/23 school year, the playbook materials were tested in 1st, 4th, and 7th grades using Perspekt 2.0, developed by DCUM (Danish Center for Learning Environment). The testing was only partially completed, as the day-to-day workload prevented several teachers from fully engaging with the materials. For the same reason, holding a workshop proved challenging. As an alternative, the steering group attempted to gather feedback from the teachers who had managed to work with Perspekt.

The feedback was mostly positive, with several teachers noting that the materials could be implemented as a full program but that the different themes could also be used individually. To support well-being efforts across the school, a “well-being catalog” was created, accessible to all teachers. The idea was to make it easier for teachers to find quality materials on topics they wanted to address. Additionally, teachers could provide feedback and share experiences about the various materials.

However, only a few teachers have used the catalog to find resources, indicating a need for a clearer and more accessible procedure for well-being work at the school.

Fanø School’s well-being catalog can be accessed here.

Experience Sharing in Iceland

At the beginning of the 2023/24 school year, the project group visited Iceland – one of the other partners in SHE4AHA – to observe various approaches to health-promoting school work. These experiences were later presented and discussed at a staff meeting. The discussion included reflections on how our experiences in Iceland could enhance well-being efforts across primary, intermediate, and secondary levels, as well as how “Study K” could be further developed.

Study K is the school’s program for pupils with special needs, staffed with personnel with specialized competencies. The staff are equipped to teach pupils who have difficulty functioning in mainstream classes. Most pupils connected to “Study K” maintain a link to their class and participate in the program only during limited periods or parts of the school day.

In the fall of 2023, a new deputy principal joined, and the project once again received leadership support.

Dialogue and Structuring

After returning from Iceland, the project’s focus on well-being was further expanded, and a cohesive structure was established through the creation of a health-promoting steering group. This group includes teachers from primary, intermediate, and secondary levels to ensure broad representation.

Support from the School Board

In this phase, the project was presented to the school board, which endorsed the project’s vision and goals.

New Challenges: Deputy Principal's Departure and Resource Shortages

In June 2024, the new deputy principal resigned, and the project lost another key figure. Despite this, the task of health promotion was included in the school’s task overview in August 2024 – although no dedicated hours were allocated.

Focus on Preventive Well-being Efforts

Over the past two years, the project group has worked to promote the idea of a shared, preventive well-being effort to support the school’s initiatives in enhancing pupil well-being. Through training days, joint instruction, and the creation of a cross-functional steering group, targeted efforts have been made to establish a common understanding of well-being and health among pupils and teachers.

Going forward, the steering group will work on developing a resource catalog to support the school’s staff in their well-being efforts. This work will continue to develop and strengthen a shared well-being culture at Fanø School—for the benefit of both pupils and staff.

Results

In the 9th grade, we now see clear signs of improved well-being. Positive feedback from pupils, parents, and colleagues indicates a strengthened sense of community and a well-functioning learning environment. The successful practices and initiatives that have contributed to this improvement are also being implemented in the new 7th grade, creating continuity in the school’s well-being efforts.

A particularly encouraging sign is that fewer pupils than usual have chosen to leave the school after 8th grade. Only three pupils have opted to attend a boarding school or other programs, while three new pupils from Esbjerg have joined and chosen the grade as their school community. This points to an attractive school environment that both retains current pupils and attracts new ones.

As part of the transition to 9th grade, the three 8th-grade classes were merged and restructured into two 9th-grade classes. This reorganization proceeded smoothly, due to the project’s emphasis on viewing the grade as a unified cohort rather than separate classes. Pupils have had ample time to get to know each other and their teachers, creating a solid foundation for collaboration and camaraderie.

This positive development supports the school’s efforts to foster well-being and community, marking a strengthening of the overall school environment.

Challenges

To ensure continuous leadership support and facilitate the implementation process, the school’s deputy principal participated in the project from its start. However, as noted above, the deputy principal took a position elsewhere one year into the project, leaving the project without leadership representation for nine months. When a new deputy principal was hired, they were immediately involved and actively participated in the project. Unfortunately, this individual resigned as of July 1, 2024, leaving the project without leadership support during its final phase. This raises concerns within the project group about the project’s long-term sustainability, as leadership support has been crucial to the project’s success.

Additionally, it has sometimes been challenging to get all school staff on board. Communicating the project’s benefits for the entire school has been difficult. To address this, discussions have focused on the issues the project aims to address over time to make it relevant for the broader school staff. For example, during staff discussions, it became clear that everyone prefers less “firefighting” and more preventive efforts when it comes to well-being and community-building.

Promoting Factors

The entire project team has been engaged and motivated to create positive change. Viewing the project from a broader perspective—where the focus on health and well-being can benefit all of Fanø School and future pupils, not just those involved in the initial pilot—has been a major motivational factor.

Another crucial promoting factor has been the team’s study visit to Iceland, where we had the opportunity to observe various practical examples of health-promoting schools in action.

Training Sessions and Partnership Meetings

The ongoing training sessions and partnership meetings have supported the progress of the project. The other Danish partners have worked with various health-promoting themes, which have been highly inspirational in terms of both content and methods. Additionally, insights into the other partners’ projects have contributed to a broader understanding of what health-promoting pedagogy can encompass.

SHE School Guide

The School Guide has been helpful throughout the project. It has contributed to building a foundational understanding of health-promoting efforts and has also served as a practical playbook, outlining the essential elements for implementing health-promoting initiatives. As the project progressed, the work increasingly mirrored and resonated with the guidance provided in the School Guide.

A Call for Prioritizing Preventive Well-being Efforts

“How can you afford to do this work? We can’t afford not to!” – this was the response from a school leader in Iceland when asked how her school found the budget to prioritize health-promoting initiatives. This statement stands in stark contrast to the situation on Fanø – and in Denmark more broadly – where well-being is frequently highlighted in speeches and school policy goals but still lacks the dedicated priority needed to make the work binding for schools.

Well-being and preventive initiatives are central topics in the discussion about the future of education, but without specific resources and clear frameworks, creating meaningful change is challenging. Over the past three years, we at Fanø have worked purposefully toward a health-promoting school system.

Yet, when it came time to allocate the budget, well-being initiatives were not prioritized, leaving the work without dedicated time or financial resources.

It’s a missed opportunity, as we, like the Icelandic school leader, believe this work is essential—not only for pupils’ well-being here and now but for the school’s overall development and sustainability in the long term. We can’t afford not to invest in well-being. Well-being must be elevated from policy goals to practice, supported by the resources necessary to make a genuine impact.

Recommendations for a Health-Promoting School

To enhance pupil well-being and prevent challenges to mental health, several recommendations should be prioritized, both politically and in daily school operations:

1. SHE School Guide

Put the Health-Promoting School on the Political Agenda – with a Long-Term Focus

2. Prioritize Health-Promoting Work to Prevent Well-Being Issues

A systematic focus on health-promoting initiatives in schools can serve as a preventive approach to addressing pupil well-being issues. By investing in well-being, many problems that would later require significant resources to address can be prevented.

3. Highlight the School’s Existing Health-Promoting Initiatives

Schools should make visible the many health-promoting initiatives already in place. By showcasing well-being efforts and communicating about them effectively, a foundation is created for further development and understanding among pupils, parents, and staff.

These three recommendations outline a holistic approach, where health-promoting initiatives become an integral part of the school’s operations, positioning the Health-Promoting School as a central concept for the future of education.