Read how Move Well Eat Well schools are making healthy eating and physical activity a normal, enjoyable part of every child's day.  

Tap into Water Everyday 

Somerset Primary are encouraging all students to drink water regularly by displaying Tap into Water Everyday signs in each classroom. This is also a great reminder for teachers and parents. Print ‘Tap into Water Everyday’ signs for your classroom here.

Evandale Primary did a school survey to work out the starting points for Move Well Eat Well and where there was room for improvement. They added a question about drink bottle contents: What do you mostly have in your drink bottle at School? (always water/sometimes water/cordial/juice/other).

Norwood Primary used the development of a trendy new toilet block as a chance to promote access to drinking water. Designed for security and supervision, the WATER BOTTLE FILLING STATION has a tap designed to allow students to fill their water bottles regularly and safely. A great example to building a school environment that supports the Move Well Eat Well messages.

Sheffield School’s Design Technology students designed and constructed water bottle racks for all primary classes. To ensure that students are always able to access and consume water their bottles stay at school. At the beginning of the school day students  select their bottle off the rack and fill it up. At the end of the day children wash their bottles and place them on the rack to dry over night.

At Kingston Primary every Wednesday is 'Water Wednesday'. The number of children in each class with water in their drink bottles is recorded by 2 grade six statisticians. The class with most goes into the newsletter and the class throughout the term with the most wins a water icy pole prize.

Plant Fruit and Veg in your Lunchbox

Souper Schools! Find out how some Move Well Eat Well Member schools have become 'Souper Schools' and made their own delicous soups here.

A grade four class at Margate Primary School has started a new program called Harvest Basket selling freshly picked fruit and veggies from the school garden.  The class advertises in the school newsletter and makes posters for display.  They harvest the produce and set up a pick-up time.  The students collect the sales money and can use it to buy plants or to share amongst the whole school garden.   The budding entrepreneurs are very enthusiastic and are working out ways they can value add by making jams, soups and drying the herbs.  Their gardening teacher Karen Dermer says “It has been a great educational tool helping students gain awareness of the value of what they grow, discouraging waste, and teaching them about marketing, distribution and money management.  It has helped to build a stronger school community.” For more information contact Karen:  karen.dermer@education.tas.gov.au or 62672238.

During 2012 grade 3 students at St Aloysius College studied the ‘Can I eat a rainbow’ health and wellbeing, developed by Move Well Eat Well. During the unit the students discussed the benefits of eating a healthy, balanced diet with a focus on trying a range of different coloured fruit and vegetables. Throughout the unit students enthusiastically tried up to 20 different varieties, rating these as new or familiar tastes. These included, tangelo, passionfruit, yellow capsicum, leek, beans, blood orange and many more. The grade 3 teachers reported that the students really enjoyed the unit. Want to try the ‘Can I eat a rainbow’ unit with your class? Click here.

Illawarra Primary School’s canteen has been offering home-made vegetable soups during July and August this year. Some of the grade 5 and 6 students have been helping prepare, cook and serve the soups each week. Vegetable soup recipes are also being shared in the school newsletters.

To support the schools daily Fruit and Veg break Rosebery District School has a partnership with a local mine. Each week the mine donates a box of fruit to the school. This fruit is used for the daily fruit and veg breaks for classes K-6.

At Beaconsfield Primary School  students and staff are involved in the planting, maintaining and growing of the vegetables in their school garden. The garden promtes healthy eating through the use of harvested vegetables in cooking activities and through the sale of produce from the garden  at the annual school fair. 

Following the 40 Hour Famine, the SRC at Sheffield District School at put on a lunch for all students called SHEFFWAY. Similar to Subway, a selection of salad vegetables and fruit, and a range of cold meats and bread rolls were available to students. The students relayed what they wanted in their rolls to the SRC reps that created their healthy lunch.

 
Limit "Occasional" Food

Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Primary School decided to break with the past and not sell fizzy drinks & chips. They tossed around these ideas:

• promoting water, with ice, fancy straws
• fruit kebabs/platters
• making links with lines the canteen already sells (eg popcorn, apple spirals and muffins)
• fruit buns, small tubs of reduced fat yoghurt, vegie sticks, crackers and cheese cubes
• a trail mix with popcorn with dried fruit and cereals (e.g. Weet-Bix Bites, Mini-Wheats etc.)
• icypoles or 99% fruit juice sticks (e.g. Quelches, Golden Circle juicey fruit sticks from the supermarket)

Rosetta Primary's School Association successfully sold Easter buns as a fundraiser. They sent order forms home, negotiated a good price from the local baker and in the three weeks before Easter were inundated with interest. The Grade 6 leavers celebration fund was topped up by over $400!

As an Award school Invermay Primary continues to support the ‘Limit Occasional Foods’ message. In 2012 Invermay Primary made the decision to fundraise with all non-food related items. The most popular fundraisers were bulbs, socks and special day stalls. They also made the decision to ensure that food and drinks at the end of year Family BBQ followed the same guidelines as their Silver accredited canteen.
 

Taroona Primary has made a conscious effort to reduce ‘occasional’ foods at school by making it school policy to avoid reliance on sales of sweets, biscuits and chocolates. They get great support from their School Association for this decision. The SRC however does sell ice-creams. The school has made thoughtful decisions about this and now has a policy to ensure that these sales are only weekly, children can only buy one, and importantly the ice creams on offer are from a list provided (and updated) by the Tasmanian School Canteen Association. Your school can gain access to this list by emailing the TSCA: kirsty@tascanteenassn.org.au

Railton Primary School has strong links with their local fruit and veg retailers and shop owners. To ensure that all students (even those that don’t regularly bring fruit and veg) get to enjoy fruit and veg  every day the local shop donates fresh fruit and veg each week. The school has also met with the local shop a number of times to explain the schools 'Plant Fruit and Veg' and 'Limit Occassional Foods' policies. As a result of this, the local shop has reduced the amount of occasional food options for lunch orders.

During June South Arm Primary celebrated their Award Renewal with a Move Well Eat Well ‘Cook Off’ event. Individual classes and families were encouraged to cook a healthy snack that had to fit the criteria of tasty, healthy and quick to make. The snack entries were judged by a panel of local community members and the principal. Non-food related prizes such as stickers and books were awarded to the winning classes and individuals from each grade.

Scotch Oakburn Junior School make links between their canteen and the classroom. An example uses the canteen sales as a basis to expand numeracy skills of year 2 students. Students were given numeracy exercises based on the canteen menu. For example, "The tuckshop has 5 fruit salads, they started with 22, how many did they sell?"  

Mount Stuart Primary talked to their Parent Association about their ideas to limit "occasional" foods. As a result they had a "water tank" at the school disco so children could access water at all times, and the Association became aware of the importance of not having lollies at all events.

Move Well Eat Well member schools can find out more great fundraising ideas by clicking here.

Move, Play and Go


Hutchins Junior School has recently developed a video of students doing different body movements to promote everyday movement in class. Each day via Smart Boards the video is played to junior school classes who spend around 10 minutes participating in the sequence of fun moves.

At Mt Stuart Primary all students participate in a Daily Fitness Program which is led by trained Grade 6 leaders. A set time of 25 minutes is allocated to the program each day following recess. Students participate in a range of activities including running, skipping, walks around surrounding streets and park, ball games and team sports on a rotational basis. The Daily Fitness Program also includes a program designed and adapted to students with physical disabilities or additional needs. This extra program includes the use of a range of modified activities and experiences allowing each student to successfully achieve their goals. This program is also led by Grade 6 Leaders under the supervision of a grade 5/6 teacher and a specialist Physical Education teacher. Activities include climbing, balancing, dancing, ball work and crossing the midline activities.

Boat Harbour Primary has set up 10 daily PE kits containing a variety of equipment designed to make the PE program as flexible as possible. Each kit also contains an ideas designed to be a "working document" where teachers and students build the bank of ideas. Teachers select the kit they would like to use and keep it for 1 week, using it flexibly with other simple activity games.

Turn Off, Switch to Play

Every Friday at Clarendon Vale Primary School the PCYC visit the school and take each class for games and activities. These activities are focussed on teaching the students team building, cooperation and how to be involved in physical activity in a safe and fun way. Activities change weekly which ensures that the students are always engaged in the program. Students love playing cooperative games with the parachute as well as using other equipment in a range of obstacle courses and exercise stations.

Burnie Primary School recently had a new playground constructed for students. A voting form was sent home where  students and parents could select one of four playground designs that they would most like installed. HPE Teacher Steph Davies said that 'The playground that won the vote is great because it encourages the development of balance and climbing skills'.

Levendale Primary were looking to purchase new active play equipment suitable for upper primary ages. To involve classes and link to literacy, older children were asked to research active play equipment options and then use persuasive writing to put their preferred option to the Principal.

Stride and Ride

During term 1, 2013 Bridport Primary launched 'Part Way is OK' which encourages parents to drop their children at safe, designated drop off points and walk to school with adult supervision. At the launch 36 students walked with parents and siblings joining in. When they arrived at school the local supermarket provided free fresh fruit to all walkers. The Dorset Council representatives made sure they were there to support the launch too.

Boat Harbour Primary School has been most creative in using the humble gumboot.  Making the most of wet and soggy conditions in term 3, they held a Gumboot Day.  Students were encouraged to walk around the grounds in their gumboots and negotiate some 'obstacles.'  Other activities included gumboot throwing, ten-pin bowling with gumboots (instead of pins) and golf-putting (with gumboots instead of holes).

Windermere Primary has set up  "Walking Wednesday" . The Daily PE leaders take their class on a walk as the allocated activity for that week.  The schools has included this into their Health and Wellbeing Policy to make sure walking is promoted as a pleasurable and regular part of everyone’s week.  This Students are now reminding the staff that it is Wednesday so it’s "Walking Wednesday" day.

Taroona Primary has a Bike Safety day in term 3. This is organised by the School Council. Students bring in their scooters and bikes and these are given a safety check. Activities for this day include a “mountain bike circuit” for Grade 5/6, an obstacle course, bike races and endurance bike riding. For more information contact pamela.roberts@education.tas.gov.au

This year Miandetta Primary School are encouraging active transport to school by introducing the "Golden Foot" trophy. The "Golden Foot" trophy will be awarded to the class that has had the most students that walk, ride or scoot to school each month.  The sports leaders will be involved in collating the information and presenting the trophy at a school assembly.

Summerdale Primary School have a “Ride to School Day” once a term, followed by a bike parade at lunchtime. To ensure safety during these events the school has a licence system for bike riders whereby students must demonstrate they are sensible riders and know where and how to park their bikes at School.

Pedometers can be used by schools for a variety of activities:

• Levendale Primary School used the pedometers for a whole of school competition where students tried to walk to Launceston and back. Students in classes K-6 took turns recording their steps over a week. Students then added their name and their total number of steps to a list and the number of steps was converted to a distance. The school didn't quite make it all the way to Launceston and back but recorded a total of 499030 steps which was equivalent to 301.8 kms. At that distance they would have been able to see the school at a mere 1.4 kms away!
• St Cuthberts Primary School used the pedometers for a range of activities with the upper primary students (grades 4-6). The Grade 5 and 6 students had a competition over 2 weeks to find out which group could accumulate the most steps. Each class took it in turns wearing the pedometers for a week. Students wore the pedometers during PE lessons and the cross country to get an idea of how many more steps they took during physical activity.
• Mt Stuart Primary School have used the pedometers during the regular daily fitness walk to a local park. Grade 6 students have used the pedometers for classroom learning where recorded steps have been used during maths activities. Teachers have also worn the pedometers - comparing steps between Grade 2 and 6 teachers.
• At Kingston Primary School  the pedometers are being used for a staff challenge.  All staff (teaching and non-teaching) are focusing on being more active and have been organised in to teams for the challenge.  Total steps for each team are being added up at the end of the week. PE Teacher Angela Kadziolka says "It is a good way to get staff familiar with the pedometers, have students see the staff as interested active people and have a positive interaction with others in the school". 

Health Promoting Schools: links with families, your polices, the curriculum and the community


In preparation for Nude Food Day in 2012 Margate Primary sent home information to parents about the day. Parents were encouraged to send healthy, 'wrapper free' food on the day. Teachers also discussed wrapper free lunch ideas with students in their classes prior to the day. See Margate’s newsletter article here. Interested in participating in Nude Food Day in 2013? Select the link www.nudefoodday.com.au/

Dodges Ferry Primary School recently joined Move Well Eat Well. Following their orientation session the school created a small team to specifically work on Move Well Eat Well. The team consists of  a HPE teacher, some classroom teachers, some parents, a representative from the local community house and the principal. The team are meeting regularly to discuss ways that Move Well Eat Well messages can be incorporated into school life.

The Tasmanian eSchool aren't letting distance stop their promotion of healthy eating and physical activity. Students are enjoying taking part in the Global Children's Challenge emailing  in their step counts each week and receiving online bulletins about their progress as they cross the world (virtually). Along with this the eSchool has prepared a number of units of work based on the Go for 2 and 5 Fruit and Veg messages.

Both Scotch Oakburn Junior School and Miandetta Primary have developed family information brochures, outlining Move Well Eat Well to parents and encouraging family support for the health messages. 

Kempton Primary has combined Move Well Eat Well and KidsMatter to create their 'Healthy Mind Healthy Body' program. The Healthy Mind component includes ensuring supportive environments, explicit teaching of social and emotional skills, parent support and early intervention. Parents are involved through occasional activity days where they visit the school to run sessions on activities they are comfortable with, with small groups of students. The Healthy Body component includes the Move Well Eat Well criteria, an organised Daily Fitness program and the schools PE, gross motor skills and excursion programs.

Move Well Eat Well is part of life at Railton Primary, not an 'add on'. The Principal says, "The Move Well Eat Well framework breaks it down into simple messages that we don't continually have to keep refining. It's an easy structure to remember."

Synergies with KidsMatter

Many schools are taking a whole school apporach to both mental and emotional health and wellbeing, with healthy eating and physical activity-and seeing the benefits. Read more... 

If your school has some ideas to share with others, please contact us!  We'd love to share your news and inspiration.