The Armenian school that has embedded physical health alongside learning through its extensive sports and wellness infrastructure
“Educational-Sport Complex” Enterprise of “Gazprom Armenia” CJSC, an independent kindergarten, primary, and secondary school in Yerevan, Armenia, is redefining what holistic education can look like by embedding physical health, emotional wellbeing, nutrition, resilience, and mental wellness into every aspect of school life. In a context where unhealthy eating habits, sedentary lifestyles, and growing concerns around student wellbeing are increasingly affecting young people across all socio-economic groups, the school recognised that many children, including those from highly educated and financially secure households, were growing up disconnected from healthy routines, physical activity, and balanced nutrition.
The core aim of the school is to educate well-rounded students who are successful not only academically but also in their physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual development. It does this through an integrated system that promotes healthy lifestyles, combining nutrition, physical activity, and psychological support. The alternative curriculum places a strong emphasis on sports and psychological well-being alongside academic achievement. Built across a 32 square-kilometre campus, the institution offers extensive sports and wellness infrastructure, including a swimming pool, football field, gymnasium, sports halls, and one of only two indoor ice-skating rinks of its scale in Armenia.
To ensure that wellbeing, health and education are fully supported, the school operates through a “System of Equal Opportunities,” where academic achievement, physical activity, mental wellness, creativity, and character development are treated as interconnected parts of student growth. Healthy living begins as early as age two, with children introduced to movement, nutrition, and wellness habits. Kindergarten students participate in gardening activities where they grow vegetables and learn about food production, while elementary students take mandatory dance classes designed to develop coordination, creativity, confidence, and a lifelong love of movement and wellbeing.
Inside classrooms and across the campus, students are encouraged to take part in a wide range of sports and extracurricular programmes, including football, basketball, volleyball, swimming, hockey, figure skating, table tennis, cycling, judo, chess, dance, and fitness training. The school’s ice-skating programme has become one of its most distinctive features, providing students with access to a non-traditional sport that helps build confidence, coordination, resilience, and discipline. Every year, as the school's ice rink season comes to the end, a big closing performance is staged on the ice, giving an opportunity to all students who are involved in extracurricular ice skating to celebrate their participation, progress and shared experience throughout the skating season. These have included Cinderella, The World of Walt Disney, and Pinocchio. Regular hiking trips and outdoor excursions encourage physical fitness and connect learners with nature so they can consciously disengage and focus on their mental rejuvenation.
All meals are prepared under the supervision of a certified nutritionist, with balanced nutrition integrated into the school’s wider educational philosophy. Psychological and emotional wellbeing are also treated as central pillars of the school’s approach, and students have access to psycho-pedagogical support services, medical-social support teams, and structured mental wellness programmes.
Staff are trained in professional development programmes focused on burnout prevention, psychological support, bullying prevention, and student mental health, while parents are invited to be part of school activities and even lead lessons on topics including oral hygiene and healthy eating.
The reimagined approach is reaping significant success with more than 90% of students actively participating in at least one activity or programme. Regular fitness assessments show measurable improvements in cardiovascular health, endurance, and strength, and learners have achieved strong results across robotics competitions, Olympiads, theatre, and university placements. Graduates have been accepted into leading universities in Armenia, Europe, and the United States, including institutions like the University of Exeter, the University of Manchester, and the American University of Armenia.
