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Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present the concept, methods of implementation, results and experiences from the first stage of the three-year project on school staff health promotion carried out within the framework of the health-promoting school (HPS) network in Poland. Design/methodology/approach: The project was implemented in 2012 in 22 primary and lower secondary schools, with a group of 780 teachers and 276 non-teaching staff. To be eligible for their school to be included, head teachers and at least 60 per cent of school staff members had to volunteer to commit to the project. An action research approach was used. The project is implemented on the basis of an agreement between the Medical University of Warsaw and the Centre of Education Development. Findings: Over the first eighteen months of implementing the project, the schools selected priority problems to solve, constructed an action plan for the first year and evaluated their outcomes. Only 7 schools reported that they had achieved their goals. The difficulties experienced by schools were associated with inadequate planning skills, insufficient support from some head teachers, and low involvement of staff members in the project activities. However, openness to change and new learning, and a readiness to participation further in the project was observed across 17 from 22 schools. Originality/value: This pilot project was the first attempt to introduce health promotion among school staff into the HPS network in Poland and provides valuable lessons on implementation.

The purpose of the study was to present the process and results of developing standards and self-evaluation procedures for health promoting special schools (HPSS) for children with intellectual disabilities. The work was undertaken in order to address the needs of special schools interested in establishing a health promoting school (HPS). We used following methods: 1) Preparation: interviews with principals and teachers at 8 special schools, as well as regional HPS network coordinators, visits to 4 schools; 2) Development of HPSS project standards, self-evaluation procedures and tools: consultations with representatives of 8 schools and with regional coordinators; 3) Pilot study of HPSS the self-evaluation procedure and tools at 8 schools and development of a finalised version: direct observation, document analysis, interviews with selected participants, survey studies of school staff and students' parents, testing students using one of the following methods: "Draw and write", "Draw and tell", conversation or written response. The study included people supporting HPS on a national and regional level, school principals and health promotion coordinators from special schools for students with intellectual disabilities. The pilot study was conducted on a group of 341 teaching staff, 148 non-teaching staff, 468 parents of students, and 435 students. The analysis of the study's reports and consultations with school principals and health-promotion coordinators from participating schools guided the development of the final version of standards, in addition to the associated model of HPSS and self-evaluation procedure along with a set of tools to measure the accomplishment of the standards. The HPSS standards and self-evaluation procedure were approved by the Ministry of National Education and officially disseminated, with special schools gaining the opportunity to apply for the Health Promoting School National Certificate. The self-evaluation element of HPSS makes it possible to improve the activities of special schools with respect to health promotion while encouraging collaboration and exchange of ideas with regular schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]