Help Your School Take Action - Making Your School a Healthier Place

Starting a Health Committee

• Committee Benefits
• Establishing Your Committee
• Setting the Course

A committee with people from different backgrounds will result in more widespread thinking when it comes to planning and implementing initiatives. Committee members feel a sense of ownership, which helps to deepen and sustain your initiatives.

Benefits

• Committee members are more dedicated to the committee's success when everyone helps to develop initiatives
• Parents can help encourage other parents to get involved in initiatives
• Student input is important to help identify needs and the approaches that will work best with students
• Community agencies may know of other resources schools could use
• While support from administration is necessary and can play a key role, administration alone should not be responsible for the committee's success

Establishing Your Committee

Having a variety of school and community representatives allows for different perspectives, knowledge and skills. For example:

• School Administration
• Teachers (1 per division)
• School Council representatives/other parents
• Students
• Public Health Nurse
• Community Agencies (Parks & Recreation, etc.)

Recruiting Members
Spread the word about your Health Committee start-up through:

• Staff meetings
• School assemblies
• Parent council meetings
• PA announcements
• School newsletters

Setting Your Committee's Course of Action

1. Review your school's strengths and current health initiatives.
   
   
2. Identify the issues.
   • Consult with parents, students, staff and administration.
   • Send our School Health Issues Survey home to parents or ask parents to complete it at school events.
   • Ask students and staff about their concerns or ideas using a simple questionnaire or suggestion box.
     
     
3. Decide which issues to work on.
   If you use surveys or questionnaires, set aside enough time to gather the responses and analyze the data.
   
   
4. Develop an Action Plan.
   Discuss the issues in a comprehensive way and include school wide initiatives, classroom instruction, parents and the community. Use our action plan as a guide.
   • Which activities or initiatives could you develop to address the issue?
   • What resources do you need?
   • How long do you want this particular initiative to run? A day, week or the rest of the school year?
   • Is there a particular time during the school year that would tie in with the curriculum or other events?
   • Who will work on this task?
   
   
5. Determine interest.
   If some of the activities require parental support such as attending presentations, family events, or paying for a program, measure parents' interest by sending out our Healthy Eating and Physical Activity Questionnaire.

6. Implement your plan.
   • Depending on the number and difficulty of the tasks, you may decide to break into sub-groups.
   • Agree on assigned tasks and a reasonable time frame for completion.
   • Have one or two people monitor task completion and establish regular communication between group members.
   • Formalize your actions by writing policies or guidelines for your school either during or after implementation.
     
     
7. Evaluate
   This can be done through discussion or by sending surveys or questionnaires to students, staff and parents.
   • Which initiatives were the most successful and why?
   • Which events will you repeat and build on?
   • What didn't work very well?
   • What other ideas can be developed?
     
     
8. Celebrate your successes!
   Never doubt that small changes can make a big difference. Acknowledge and reward the contributions and participation of everyone involved by:
   • Having a school assembly and celebrating with skits, songs or mascots.
   • Acknowledging students, staff and parents at the assembly, on PA announcements or in school newsletters.
   • Having a special play day or outdoor event.
   • Designing and presenting certificates of appreciation.
   • Depending on donations or volunteers, offering a small treat to all students (depending on donations or volunteers).