1011 Health - 30 November 2010

End of Year Health Report

This has been a busy and successful year that has seen Kaikohe East School progress significantly in its health promotion. Following is a list and description of projects undertaken this year and in the pipeline for next year;

1.     SILVER HEART FOUNDATION AWARD

Term 2 saw our school attain the silver Heart Foundation Award. This award is in recognition of the level of Kaikohe East’s involvement in health promotion, particularly in regards to healthy eating and fitness. It also recognises the development of a ‘Health Promoting Schools team’ who have a noticeboard in the library to promote healthy lifestyles, the development of procedures around healthy eating and fitness in the school, and teachers efforts to educate children towards leading healthy lifestyles.

2.    SUNSMART ACCREDITATION

Term 2 also saw our school obtain sunsmart accreditation. This accreditation is awarded once the school has met the Cancer Foundations guidelines for being a ‘sunsmart’ school. In order to achieve this we had to develop a procedure around the wearing of hats at break times, show that teachers try and hold physical education/swimming sessions when possible before 11am when the hottest part of the day begins, and prove that we have enough shaded areas in our school. This also saw us begin to develop a plan for our school to increase its shaded areas as funding becomes available, such as shade sails over our playground areas.

3.    THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE SCHOOL GARDEN

The school garden began with plans from Mrs. Blackwood last year, and developed as room 16 wanted to begin a community project in term 1. Between Mrs. Blackwood and myself we secured substantial donations of materials and equipment (and discounted products) from many different suppliers. The substantial area at the back of the school has seen the building of four 1.8m x 10m gardens built, a large stone koru pattern (intended as a sensory herb garden), 50 citrus trees planted and compost bins built. In an effort to try and keep this project as sustainable as possible, soakage watering lines have been brought along with all the equipment to install them as they save 70% of the water that using a sprinkler or hose uses. As the school is on school supply, there are plans to apply for funding for a tank to be installed next year, with water being collected from the Caretakers shed and the garden shed that is yet to be built also. We still have funding aside that was raised this year for more fruit trees, and a garden shed to be built. There are also plans for more garden beds to be built, so that in the future not only will each class be able to have their own garden, but the school will also be able to give produce back to the community. Proudly, all the classes in the school are now involved in the garden and are learning about healthy eating, being sustainable and growing healthy kai all at the same time

4.    ALTER-NATIVE TREES

With the development of our school gardens saw the children want to develop the area around this space also. Alter-Native nurseries just out of Whangarei award 90 groups 100 native trees for suitable conservation and learning projects. We were the lucky winners of one of these 100 packs of native trees, and they have all been planted in the space at the side of the gardens beside the woodshed

5.    JUMP ROPE FOR HEART

In term 2 we held a very successful jump Rope for Heart/health expo day. The students were grouped across the school, with seinor students from room 16 leading these groups. The day was organised so that the children participated in an active (skipping) activity and then a non-physical health activity (such as hygiene) the children participated in 16 activities on this day, and raised nearly $300 for their efforts for the Heart Foundation

6.    PYJAMA DAY

Daffodil day this year (the annual fund raiser for the Cancer Society) saw staff and students come to school and spend the day in their PJ’s, dressing gowns and slippers. This fundraising idea was thought up by the health promoting students in room 16 who wanted something that was a bit different that everyone could participate in. After a little convincing that it was a good idea, Whaea Chicky Ok’d the day. It was a great success with the children and staff having a Pyjama parade, and individual classes doing a range of activities around being in their pyjamas – such as making breakfast – Again our school proudly raised approximately $300 for charity.

7.    KIDSCAN CHARITY

This winter saw many of our children away due to illness (as winter usually does), but also highlighted to me the amount of children in our school who come to school in this season without adequate clothing or footwear. This prompted me to try and find a way to help our children. KidsCan charity work hard to provide raincoats, hats, shoes, socks and lunches for children who don’t have these things. I applied to this charity, and can proudly say that we have been accepted as one of the charities partner schools!! This means that next year (there is a waiting list process) hopefully sometime before winter ALL the children in our school should receive FREE raincoats (ALL-Blacks ones!) from this charity. I also applied for the shoes and socks grant, and this will be awarded to children on an individual needs basis. This is definitely something to look forward to for our students next year!

8.    MAINFREIGHT HATS

I have been discussing and trying to organise with a contact at Mainfreight (who supply free hats for our new entrants) a roll out of hats for the ENTIRE school. These hats would remain at school and each class would have a set for their students. There is still to be a had a discussion about who would take responsibility about making sure the hats are returned and cleaned – but I have seen a numbering process for use in class use successfully in other schools, and the cleaning would still be negotiated. I have held off these discussions with staff until we have a confirmed number of allocated hats. It is important to note that these hats meet our Cancer Society Sunsmart guidelines as they have the recommended brim the entire way around the hat. We are waiting as Mainfreight are waiting to ensure they have enough hats to be distributed to all their new entrant commitments first.

9.    BREAKFAST IN SCHOOLS

I have investigated a couple of breakfast in school programmes. Along with other teachers in the school, I see a need to provide students with a healthy breakfast as too many of our students are coming to school and relying on the fruit in schools program for their food. However, while the programs are relatively easy to get access to and have food provided, there are several other considerations that need to be taken into account and discussed and organised before this could occur. The first such issue is that of storage – for most programmes the weetbix/cereal gets delivered once per term. This needs serious storage consideration as it takes a fairly reasonable area that needs to be completely rodent free. The other storage issue is that milk arrives weekly – again this takes a large amount of Refrigerated space that will require its own easy to access space. Another consideration is bowls, spoons, and the cleaning of the dishes. Crockery, utensils, fridges and dishwashing liquid are not provided. The last considerations before this type of program could occur in our school are who would organise and run this and where? My suggested solution would be for the health teacher to run this every morning, but have no other duties (as happens with those on bus duty). I would have liked to see a breakfast program eventuate in 2011.

10.  FRUIT IN SCHOOLS

We have yet to confirm wether the fruit in schools program will continue next year. The health Promoting schools team are working hard to try and make this happen. This is a very valuable program in our school, and many of our student rely on the fruit as their main food source during the school day. It will be a couple of years before our orchard in the school garden will be close to producing enough fruit to sustain the whole school, but if the garden continues in the same manner as this year, then I am sure it will be a very prosperous area in years to come!

11.   BUDGET

This years Health budget was combined with Physical Education. In relation to health and health promotion we spent just over $50 of this budget. This was spent on buying new buckets for each of the classes for their fruit allocation and a noticeboard for the Health Promoting Team (Tea Towels for the staffroom made up the rest of this $50). The Life Education Trust visit was also supposed to come out of the Health and Physical Education budget, but due to staffing difficulties this visit did not happen. I feel that if the Life Education truck is booked for next year, then it needs to be specifically allowed for in a budget area – making sure those in charge of the budget area are aware of this potential cost, as it may not occur until later in the year when funds may have already been spent if an awareness is not made.

In terms of budget for next year, the health area would like to see ALL (willing) staff members obtain a First Aide certificate (to be done during the holidays so that we do not need to fund relievers, and could be used in place of a call back day). This is supported by most staff members already spoken to.

Also, the health area would like to see money allocated to update resources - after a stock take of what health resources we have are made – especially in the areas of professional development where staff can see the value and importance of active health education and in puberty, where money could be spent on bringing someone in to take these lessons to ensure that they do actually occur.

I thank you for the opportunity to lead this area this year. I feel that it has been a successful year for health in our school.

Sincerely 

Sarah Morgan

Room 16

Classroom Teacher/HPS/Health

Kaikohe East School