Become a Healthy School

Healthy Schools Niagara spotlight

The spotlight showcases the Healthy School initiatives at one school each month. While the spotlight highlights one specific school, there are many other schools across Niagara doing amazing work too.

• March 2023

  Holy Cross Catholic Secondary School
  460 Linwell Rd, St. Catharines

  

  The Healthy Schools group at Holy Cross has done fantastic work this year. The team had help from students, teachers, the principal and the school health nurse. Their health priority topic was healthy eating. They focused on how to access reliable nutrition information.

  The Healthy Schools group created a survey for the school community. This helped them see where their peers get their nutrition information from. It also helped them understand what the students already know about healthy eating. Using their survey results, the Healthy Schools group did a raiders Instagram takeover. They created fun, educational infographics to share with their school community. These infographics include nutritious recipes, food myths and healthy eating fun facts.

  Keep up the great work, raiders!

• February 2023

  École élémentaire Nouvel Horizon
  621 Quaker Rd., Welland

  

  In 2017, École Nouvel Horizon became a Healthy School. Parents, teachers, principal, school health nurse, social worker and students are all involved. The Healthy Schools committee members are enthusiastic about their three priority health topics:

  • Physical activity
  • Mental health
  • Healthy eating

  The committee brainstormed ideas for their action plan with no limit on creativity. Impactful teamwork included a Monday morning walk as a school community. The team set up an active hallway that students can access when they need a wellness break. This improves physical activity throughout the school day and the school community.

  Families participated in an "Active Family Challenge." Students plan physical activities to do with their families on evenings and weekends. Families share photos with the school community through social media, bulletin board and email.

  Students created posters, videos and self-regulation idea boxes. They placed them around the school to help the committee address mental health concerns and stress management. A reporting system encourages students to inform school staff of observed bullying incidents. A 'kindness tree' fosters acts of kindness, promotes respect and reduces bullying.

  A sub-group within the committee works on a 'celebrity' fruit and vegetable campaign. Students will promote the 'celebrity' food item by sharing exciting facts through posters, announcements, guided tastings and sharing recipes. The group plans to create a video to encourage cooking together as a family at home.

  The creative ideas from this ambitious team keep coming. Keep up the impactful work les dragons. Congratulations!

• May 2022

  Lockview Public School
  505 Bunting Rd., St. Catharines

  

  The motivated and enthusiastic Healthy Schools Student Champions at Lockview Public School have created a "Spring into Action" school-wide health initiative, supported by the Principal, staff, youth counsellor and community members.

  Lockview student leaders began their healthy schools initiative with a survey distributed to the school community to determine what the school community considered their most important health issues. The chosen theme was mental health and wellness. During Mental Health Week, student leaders and staff champions will provide interactive presentations to students. The students have incorporated inclusion, physical activity, and healthy eating as part of the school-wide activities for their well-being.

  Each month the team will create a themed bulletin board with posters, pictures and ideas to encourage all students to contribute. The themes include; "What brings you joy?" and "What is your favourite healthy snack?". There will be opportunities to share kind messages and supportive shout-outs. Morning announcements will promote wellness and social activities for the student body.

  Additionally, students plan to use track and field day by using stations they have set up to promote healthy activities. During the event, they will use the "health trivia" they created and a spinning wheel for giveaways for items like t-shirts. Finally, in June the students have designed a "Positive Messages Chalk-Walk" activity.

  Student Champions have worked hard to create many exciting activities this spring. We look forward to working with the amazing Lockview Healthy School Student Champions again this fall!

• April 2020

  Woodland Public School
  511 Seventh St. Louth, St. Catharines

  The Healthy Schools Club may be a new club at Woodland Public School, but they are doing some amazing work! The Woodland Wellness Wolves have been working hard to make their school a healthier place.

  The Wolves began the school year by asking students what health topic they should focus on. Over half of the students wants more programs to encourage physical activity. As a result, the Wolves created a series of Wellness Walks to educate staff and students about the importance of physical activity. Students were encouraged to skip, hop and dance their way through a series of checkpoints and answer questions about health and wellbeing along the way.

  Last month, the Wolves explored why children may not get enough physical activity. One of the biggest factors was the overuse of screens. The team then focused their efforts on educating their peers about the impact too much screen time can have on their health.

  Thanks to the huge support from staff and the Wellness Wolves, Woodland Public School held their very first Screen Smart Week from March 9-13. Students participated in a poster contest and another Wellness Walk to talk about what they will do over March Break instead of using screens.

  The team will continue to meet throughout the year to plan fun activities to make Woodland Public School a healthier place to learn and grow. Great work Wellness Wolves!

• June 2020

  Woodland Public School
  511 Seventh St. Louth, St. Catharines

  The Healthy Schools Club may be a new club at Woodland Public School, but they are doing some amazing work! The Woodland Wellness Wolves have been working hard to make their school a healthier place.

  The Wolves began the school year by asking students what health topic they should focus on. Over half of the students wants more programs to encourage physical activity. As a result, the Wolves created a series of Wellness Walks to educate staff and students about the importance of physical activity. Students were encouraged to skip, hop and dance their way through a series of checkpoints and answer questions about health and wellbeing along the way.

  Last month, the Wolves explored why children may not get enough physical activity. One of the biggest factors was the overuse of screens. The team then focused their efforts on educating their peers about the impact too much screen time can have on their health.

  Thanks to the huge support from staff and the Wellness Wolves, Woodland Public School held their very first Screen Smart Week from March 9-13. Students participated in a poster contest and another Wellness Walk to talk about what they will do over March Break instead of using screens.

  The team will continue to meet throughout the year to plan fun activities to make Woodland Public School a healthier place to learn and grow. Great work Wellness Wolves!

• April 2020

  Woodland Public School
  511 Seventh St. Louth, St. Catharines

  The Healthy Schools Club may be a new club at Woodland Public School, but they are doing some amazing work! The Woodland Wellness Wolves have been working hard to make their school a healthier place.

  The Wolves began the school year by asking students what health topic they should focus on. Over half of the students wants more programs to encourage physical activity. As a result, the Wolves created a series of Wellness Walks to educate staff and students about the importance of physical activity. Students were encouraged to skip, hop and dance their way through a series of checkpoints and answer questions about health and wellbeing along the way.

  Last month, the Wolves explored why children may not get enough physical activity. One of the biggest factors was the overuse of screens. The team then focused their efforts on educating their peers about the impact too much screen time can have on their health.

  Thanks to the huge support from staff and the Wellness Wolves, Woodland Public School held their very first Screen Smart Week from March 9-13. Students participated in a poster contest and another Wellness Walk to talk about what they will do over March Break instead of using screens.

  The team will continue to meet throughout the year to plan fun activities to make Woodland Public School a healthier place to learn and grow. Great work Wellness Wolves!

• March 2020

  

  St. Elizabeth Catholic Elementary School
  31950 Sugarloaf St., Wainfleet

  The Healthy Schools Squad at St. Elizabeth Catholic Elementary School has done some great work. Their exceptional staff and educational supports, principals, parents and students all wanted to make their school a safer and more positive environment. Their team, along with the entire school, decided to focus on mental wellbeing. They understood that mental wellbeing plays a part in our overall health.

  The team recently held their first school-wide activity - a stress balls workshop. The students promoted the workshop by talking to their peers and by putting up posters. To start the workshop, the student leaders demonstrated mindfulness through the Take 5 Breathing exercise. The team then introduced stress balls as a tool to help manage stress and to feel more relaxed and calm. They emphasized how stress can affect someone's focus, concentration and motivation in school. The fun truly began when the student leaders led their peers in making their own stress balls out of balloons and flour. Students were encouraged to get creative and pick colours that made them feel happy.

  For the rest of the school year, the team plans to continue increasing awareness about mental wellbeing and mindfulness. They plan to start student-led movement and stretching lunches in the next few weeks. They will keep the school informed of their work by putting up a mental wellbeing bulletin board.

  St. Elizabeth's Healthy Schools Squad is motivated to make their school even healthier and happier. The team wants everyone to remember to be kind to themselves and to be kind to others. St. Elizabeth's Healthy Schools Squad - you are truly inspiring. Wonderful work!

• February 2020

  

  Orchard Park Public School
  3691 Dorchester Rd., Niagara Falls

  The Health and Wellness Rangers at Orchard Park Public School are off to another great start. Last school year, the team picked healthy eating as their focus. This year, the team will continue focusing on healthy eating through three separate projects, each with a unique twist.

  Their first project called "How Food Affects Your Mood" looked at how healthy eating impacts our emotions and mental health. In December 2019, the team developed announcements with fun facts, informative posters, and a presentation for the school's weekly assembly. Their message focused on how different foods make us feel after we eat them and that food affects more than just our physical health. For school-wide involvement, the team also made fun trivia questions and held a poster contest. The winning posters were displayed around the school to keep spreading awareness.

  The team will continue to meet regularly throughout the school year to work on their other two projects. The next project will be about healthy eating and the environment, followed by a project on healthy eating and physical activity.

  Keep up the great work Orchard Park!

• January 2020

  

  St. Kevin Catholic Elementary School
  182 Aqueduct St., Welland

  The School Recess Project Team at St. Kevin Catholic Elementary School has been hard at work! The team consists of school staff, community members, parents and most importantly, students.

  The team has discussed changes to the school playground to allow for inclusion of every student. These changes are thanks to the generosity of a parent's time and donation.

  The student leaders have been busy planning activities that they will lead outside at recess. The student champions have trained the grade 6 students to lead these activities. Students are also busy creating an activity schedule and mapping out where each activity will take place on the playground. Careful consideration is being given to the activities to meet the preferences of all students.

  The team will keep meeting throughout the year to promote family and community in the school. Their goal is to encourage feelings of belonging and inclusion for everyone.

  Great work St. Kevin!

• December 2019

  

  Thorold Secondary School
  50 Ormond St. N., Thorold

  The Thorold Secondary School Wellness Committee is up and running, and it promises to be another busy year. There's been lots of great discussion and planning by the committee which is made up of students, school staff and community members. With two returning students and a few new faces on both the student and staff side, enthusiasm is high.

  A survey revealed that the majority of students believe mental health is a top priority in the school. Mindfulness and meditation workshops ran in October, led by one of Thorold's own teachers. In November, inspirational speaker Joe Pillitteri reminded students of the importance of humour in our lives.

  Continuing throughout the year are meetings and other activities to promote school and community services. Plans for next year include a therapy dog day and a smoothie lunch which was a hit last year! Students will also take part in workshops to learn how to be effective leaders.

  Go Thorold Secondary School!

• November 2019

  

  Twenty Valley Public School
  4057 Victoria Ave., Vineland

  Twenty Valley Public School is located on Victoria Ave. in Lincoln where traffic, speeding and transport trucks posed a problem for the students and families' feeling of safety on their commute to school. The school community's dedication to making the trip to school safe and engagement in Active School Travel is demonstrated by significant participation and collaboration by staff, healthy school team representatives, students, parents and community partners.

  As a result of Twenty Valley's participation in Active School Travel, the location in front of the school was identified for Niagara Region's Community Safety Zone pilot. Community Safety Zones are intended to modify driver behaviour including reducing speed and distracted driving, and improving safety on certain sections of the road where public safety is of special concern. Students are encouraged to take their green route to school and while doing so can now feel safer and are able to participate in a healthier lifestyle with the enforcement of the Community Safety Zones.

  A more active lifestyle can have a positive effect on both physical and mental health. To celebrate the school's accomplishment and the Community Safety Zone, community members, students and families participated in October's International Walk fo School month. This is a month where families were encouraged to walk, ride or bus to school.

  Great job leading the way for safe and active travel Twenty Valley!

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