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School Healthy Eating Policy Project Summary October 2005
Since the spring of 2003, the School Healthy Eating Policy Project (an initiative of the PEI Healthy Eating Alliance) has worked with the three school boards of Prince Edward Island to develop healthy eating policies using a consultative process. A working group oversees the project, and consists of representatives from all three school districts, PEI Home & School Federation, Department of Health & Social Services, Department of Education, UPEI and 2 project co-ordinators. Dr. Jennifer Taylor of UPEI is the lead on the project.
The work of the School Healthy Eating Policy Project (or “Policy Project” for short) was prompted by evidence of poor eating habits of Island children. According to research done by Dr. Taylor, Island children were not meeting the recommended number of servings of milk products or vegetables and fruit based on Canada’s Food Guide to Healthy Eating. Island children were also consuming too many soft drinks, French fries, and high fat snack foods.
The initial goal of the Policy Project was to work on a collaborative basis with elementary and consolidated schools to develop policies to promote healthy eating in PEI school children. “Lead schools” were identified in each school board. These were schools that had an interest in food and nutrition issues and were interested in participating in the policy development process. They were either identified by school board representatives who belong to the Healthy Eating Alliance or requested to participate. Each lead school formed a Nutrition Team consisting of a parent, teacher, and administrator.
The Lead Schools of the Eastern School District are:
- Belfast Consolidated
- Central Queens Elementary
- Dundas Consolidated
- Eliot River Elementary
- Grand Tracadie Elementary
- Gulf Shore Consolidated
- West Kent Elementary
The Lead Schools of the Western School Board are:
- Alberton Consolidated Elementary
- Ellerslie Elementary
- O’Leary Elementary
- St. Louis Elementary
The Lead Schools of the Commission scolaire de langue française are:
- École Évangéline
- École La-Belle-Cloche
- École française de Prince-Ouest
- École François-Buote
- École St-Augustin
- École-sur-Mer
The Lead School Nutrition Teams then attended consultation meetings within each school board. As a result of these meetings, Draft Language for Elementary School Healthy Eating Policies was prepared. Further consultation took place with the Lead School Nutrition Teams around the Draft Language and then all elementary and consolidated schools were asked for feedback. The Draft Language was finally presented to the school board for their consideration for adoption.
The Policy Project is thrilled to announce that the Eastern School District adopted their School Nutrition Policy and Administrative Regulations for Elementary and Consolidated Schools Without Cafeterias in January 2005. Partial implementation began in September 2005, with full implementation scheduled for September 2006. The Western School Board adopted their Elementary and Consolidated School Nutrition Policy and Regulations in June 2005. The implementation will take place on a gradual basis over the 2005/2006 school year. The Commission scolaire de langue française is expected to adopt their nutrition policy in the fall of 2005.
Western School Board’s Elementary and Consolidated School Nutrition Policy and Regulations.
On Monday, October 3, 2006 both the Eastern School District and the Western School Board celebrated their newly adopted nutrition policies by holding school assemblies. Central Queens Elementary School hosted the Eastern School District’s celebration and Ellerslie Elementary School hosted the Western School Board’s celebration. There were speeches from school board/district representatives, students, parents, school administration, politicians, and the PEI Healthy Eating Alliance.
As a means to support schools as they implement the nutrition policies, the PEI Healthy Eating Alliance has developed a comprehensive nutrition resource manual called the “School Healthy Eating Toolkit”. All elementary and consolidated schools have received a copy and will be available to the French schools once it has been fully translated. The School Healthy Eating Toolkit is available to download. The PEI Healthy Eating Alliance also produces a newsletter (called the “Healthy EatS Newsbites”) for elementary and consolidated school staff 2-3 times a year.
The Policy Project began to work with four intermediate schools in the Eastern School District in the winter of 2005. Each school formed a Student Nutrition Team consisting of 10 students from grades 7-9. These teams assessed their school in terms of 1) Accessibility to Healthy Food Choices, 2) Quality of Food Available, and 3) Nutrition Education. Each School Nutrition Team selected areas they wanted to improve and piloted these changes. Some of the changes made included introducing a milk vending machine, offering healthier choices in the cafeteria, and developing nutrition education posters that were displayed in the cafeteria.
The work with the Eastern School District intermediate schools is expected to continue through the 2005/2006 school year. There are also plans to expand the work into the senior high schools and the Western School Board’s intermediate and senior high schools with the ultimate goal of developing healthy eating policies.
For more information about the Policy Project’s work with elementary and consolidated schools contact Kelsey Kennedy at Kelsey@healthyeatingpei.ca or 902-620-3672. For information about the Policy Project’s work with intermediate and senior high schools contact Charmaine Campbell or 902-368-6844.
The progress of the Policy Project has been made possible through the support and contributions of the Department of Health and Social Services, la Commission scolaire langue française, Eastern School District, Western School Board, PEI Home and School Federation, Department of Education, and UPEI.