Table 1 Main features of the health promotion program to be evaluated

- to promote children's social, emotional and physical health by contributing to children's well-being at school [44, 45] and enhancing their life skills [28, 36];

- to develop relevant HP teaching practices and the health promoting environment in schools,

- to develop sustainable HP projects in schools by the empowerment of local stakeholders.

The program takes into account the most recent international publications and data concerning the development of school HP programs [2, 8, 43, 46]. This implies the development of a progressive sustainable program:

   - taking into account the development of the children,

   - linking health to educational issues as well as integrating them into ongoing school activities,

   - communication with parents and communities,

   - training and support of school professionals and accessibility of resources and other methodological tools.

It also takes into account the special features of the French system. The program is a combination of top-down and bottom-up approaches and therefore the characteristics of the actions implemented in each school may vary [47].

The program is being implemented in 115 schools in 6 French regions. The program started in 2008 and will continue until 2011. In each region, a support team is in charge of the implementation of the HP program. These support teams were trained to provide training and support to the teachers and the schools concerning the HP program, its principles, values, resources and evaluation. Pedagogical resources are provided for each school. Prior to this program, a four-year pilot study was carried out in 21 schools [23, 24]. An ethics committee has also been set up.