At a recent conference, I heard someone quip that the UK’s childhood obesity problem could be the solution to our looming pension crisis. The comment was in questionable taste, certainly, but it highlighted the fact that we can often see the beginnings of our most intractable public health problems from a long way off. So how can we prevent a health and wellbeing disaster among younger generations?

Education is the answer. And that means schools need to be deliberate about championing healthy living – to children, staff and the wider community. One way schools could do this is by creating a head of wellbeing post, with accountability for developing the physical and mental health of the whole community.

I am part of a pilot project that will explore whether this idea can work. Nuffield Health is sponsoring a head of wellbeing in Wood Green school in Oxfordshire for two years. The holder of this new position will be part of the school’s senior management team, reporting to the headteacher and governors.

This is a pilot project so nothing is set in stone yet, but the head of wellbeing is likely to play a key role in overseeing investment – for example, in new sports facilities in the school – and campaigning to improve mental and physical health, exercise and nutrition, and investigate new ways to use classroom time to increase wellbeing.

It’s not just about getting chips off the canteen menu. The post-holder will be responsible for influencing the wider teaching and learning environment, and making sure healthy living is put into practice rather than just spoken about.

They’ll need to engage parents too (let’s not forget the images of parents passing junk food through railings). Considerable efforts have been put in to consulting with parents and staff through parents’ evenings and a “wellbeing weekend”, which enabled them to ask questions and sample some of the proposed initiatives, such as yoga sessions, fit-bike tests and consultations with nutrition experts.

The link between student wellbeing and attainment will be a key focus, but whoever gets the job will need to see the school as more than an educational institution – it is an important part of the local community.The pilot school has close links with others in the area and there will be opportunities to share information between them. The whole community will also be able to access the school’s fitness equipment.

The wellbeing of the 120 staff will also be a primary concern. Figures show that more than half of UK teachers are thinking about leaving the classroom within the next two years, largely as a result of stress, heavy workloads and low morale. They need a foundation of positive health and wellbeing to deal with the myriad challenges they face every day in the classroom. As part of this pilot, teachers will receive a health MOT, which will highlight healthy changes they can make to their routines. There will be increased opportunities for physical activity and mindfulness sessions, and greater access to mental health services.

The head of wellbeing will also have responsibility for investigating the best ways to keep students, staff and parents engaged in the project. They will continually assess how well participants take to the changes, how sustainable any improvements in health may be – including attitudes to unhealthy food, smoking and exercise – and the extent to which there are lessons for other schools.

The health of our young people is a national priority, but it has become a blame game, with criticism levelled at parents, food companies, the government and our schools. The challenge is to find sustainable solutions to these complex problems, and we hope that preventive early action in the school environment will develop a far greater awareness of mental and physical health issues.

Initiatives like this cannot single-handedly reverse the trends already in motion but unless we come up with some innovative solutions, the grim quip about the pension crisis may well turn out to be a horribly accurate prediction.

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