Healthy School Guidelines

The School Health Guidelines affect all aspects of school culture and involve food items provided by the school, as well as physical activities within our school community:

• Food served / sold at school
• Food as rewards
• School / Classroom Celebrations and Holidays
• School supported groups and outside agencies
• Field Trips
• Fundraising
• Staff Role Modeling
• Lunch / Recess Time

Foods and beverages provided or sold by Timberlea Public School, when possible, will follow the Alberta Nutrition Guidelines for Children and Youth and come from the “Choose Most Often” category.

Non-food rewards are strongly encouraged within the classroom to promote academic achievement or desired behaviour.  When using food to promote academic achievement or desired behaviour, school staff will use food from the “Choose Most Often” category according the Alberta Nutrition Guidelines for Children and Youth.

Foods provided during Timberlea Public School / classroom celebrations and holidays will follow the Alberta Nutrition Guidelines for Children and Youth and meet the following criteria:

Minimum 80% of food provided will fit into the “Choose Most Often” food category.
Maximum 20% of food provided will fit into the “Choose Sometimes” food category.

School supported groups and outside agencies will be provided with Timberlea’s Healthy School Guidelines and will be encouraged/supported to follow it.

Field trips have been recognized as a great opportunity for school community members to make healthy lifestyle choices. Timberlea staff and students are strongly encouraged to seek out potential healthy options available for purchase and/or bring healthy options while on field trips.

To support student’s health and school nutrition-education efforts, school fundraising activities will include food that fits Canada’s Food Guide and the “Choose Most Often” food category according to the Alberta Nutrition Guidelines for Children and Youth.  In addition, school fundraising efforts will follow these guidelines and promote physical activity.

Timberlea School Staff recognize the importance and impact that healthy role modeling can have on influencing student behaviours. During school hours all staff is strongly encouraged to model healthy choices and choose foods and beverages that follow Canada’s Food Guide and coincide with the Alberta Nutrition Guidelines.

The Timberlea School community will make an explicit effort to celebrate the healthy choices made by students in terms of healthy snacks, lunches and physical activity habits by awarding Howlers tickets, which students can exchange for a small prize in the school office.  Furthermore, teachers recognize that physical activity and socialization are vital to a child’s development and will be encouraged to explore options other than movies during lunch / recess time. Please note that movies may still be used for instructional purposes, as an incentive for students, or during celebrations/holidays.