The consequences are significant for those individuals throughout their lives, and our society. The national debate around this issue would have us believe that, as far as schools can intervene to assist, the solution lies with teacher quality, national curriculum and improved National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) results.

Important as these are, the evidence is that there is more to the story. Put simply, healthier students are better learners.

Evidence collected through projects such as the Australian National University School Climate Project make it clear that health and well-being are essential for success at school. More specifically, we know that “connection to school” correlates positively with academic achievement. Health and wellbeing must therefore be part of the fundamental mission of schools.

Thanks to Australian initiatives which have been evaluated, like MindMatters and the Gatehouse Project, we do know how to intervene effectively in school settings.

We know that building the capacity of school communities to promote the social and emotional health and well-being of students will reduce the consumption of alcohol, tobacco and marijuana, whilst contributing to improved learning outcomes.

The next Commonwealth-State education funding agreement offers a timely opportunity to incentivise all schools to implement evidence-based interventions, and the new national Health and Physical Education Curriculum, can help equip students with the capabilities to maintain their health and well-being throughout their lives.

These are important policy levers. But alone they are not enough. The bipartisan school autonomy agenda means that increasingly school leaders will have the flexibility to allocate resources; so it is critical that they, and their school boards and councils are armed with the information they need to make the right choices about the initiatives they should invest in.

School leaders have the responsibility and capacity to set both the priority to address health and well-being, and the implementation approach to achieve this goal. This must be “whole-of-school” to be effective; that is, the school’s policies and procedures, its planning and organisation, its performance measures and reporting framework, and the development of its staff must support, rather than hinder, the outcomes we are seeking. We need our school leaders to be strategic.

Once the whole-of-school framework and strategy are in place, an impressive range of agencies and programs that offer valuable health education can be assembled and targeted in partnership with the school for effective delivery.

A school Health and Wellbeing implementation team tasked to ensure that these resources are coherent with curriculum, and integral to the school’s strategic direction, can ensure real health goals are met within the school environment.

The ‘‘crowded curriculum’’ is a valid concern – and curriculum content only continues to expand! But the health and well-being of our children and young people are core to their learning, and to both the national education and health agendas.

Strong school leadership backed by expert health partners is essential to success. Let’s hope that the opportunities provided in 2013 are embraced!

Karin Nagorcka is principal of Wanniassa School ACT, and Ann Hill is executive teacher pastoral care and wellbeing atWanniassa School.