Bradford’s School Health Hubs bring healthcare directly into schools, making it easier for children, young people and families to get the support they need in a place they already know and trust.
EALC plays a backbone role in this partnership, bringing together schools, NHS colleagues, community organisations and research partners to deliver a new model of joined-up health and education support.
About the pilot
The Bradford School Health Hubs pilot (2025-2027) is funded by the NHS Charities Together Innovation Challenge Grant, delivered with Better Lives NHS Charity. It has established two hubs at Dixons Allerton Academy and Oastlers School, each adapting the model to meet the specific needs of their school community.
Partners in the pilot include:
- Bradford District Care NHS Foundation Trust
- Dixons Academies Trust
- Exceed Academies Trust (Oastlers School)
- Centre for Applied Education Research (Born in Bradford)
- West Yorkshire Citizens
- Education Alliance for Life Chances
What is a School Health Hub?
A School Health Hub is not a single person or a single service. It is a whole team of school staff, NHS professionals, community partners, young people and families working together to improve health and wellbeing for children and their families in and around a school.
Each hub has:
- A dedicated physical space within the school
- A named NHS coordinator with clinical credibility and access to NHS systems
- A shared understanding and joint ways of working across partners
- A balance of universal support for all families and targeted interventions for those who need them most
What we have achieved in Year 1
At the end of the first year, both hubs are operating effectively across two very different school settings. Between them they have:
- Engaged over 300 people, with 171 accessing the hubs in January to March 2026 alone – more than the entire previous period combined
- Supported 238 young people through hub interventions across both schools from September to March
- Raised vaccination consent rates at Dixons Allerton Academy from 13% to 59% through a simple switch from digital to paper consent forms
- Established a toothbrushing programme at both schools, with 100% uptake among primary-age children at Dixons Allerton (46 children)
- Held an Emotional Wellbeing Day reaching 117 young people, 12 parents and 14 practitioners, with 20 onward referrals to Mental Health Support Teams
- Developed a Multiple Vulnerabilities Register jointly across the school, Bradford District Care NHS Foundation Trust and Bradford Children and Families Trust
- Set up new youth clubs at both schools, focused on girls at risk of social isolation and neurodivergent learners
- Engaged 28 different sets of practitioners across both schools, including 10 voluntary and community sector organisations, 5 NHS teams and 3 university research teams
Read the interim report
The interim report – School Health Hubs: Healthcare in a Place You Trust – sets out what we have learned from the first year of the pilot, what the model looks like in practice, and how it could be scaled across Bradford and beyond.
Find out more
For more information about the School Health Hubs pilot, contact:
Kathryn Loftus: ka*****@*********************************rg.uk
Phil Sage: ph**@*********************************rg.uk