SCHOOL WELLNESS POLICY
Wellness Policy - Holy Rosary School - Monroe City, Missouri
Holy Rosary Catholic School is committed to the optimal development of every student. The School believes that for students to have the opportunity to achieve personal, academic, developmental and social success, we need to create positive, safe and health-promoting learning environments at every level, in every setting, throughout the school year.
Research shows that two components, good nutrition and physical activity before, during and after the school day, are strongly correlated with positive student outcomes. In addition, students who are physically active through recess, physical activity breaks, physical education and extracurricular activities – do better academically.
This policy outlines the Schools approach to ensuring environments and opportunities for all students to practice healthy eating and physical activity behaviors throughout the school day. This policy establishes goals and procedures to ensure that:
Committee Role and Membership
The School will convene a representative School Wellness Committee to establish goals for and oversee school health and safety policies and programs, including development, implementation and periodic review and update of this School Wellness Policy.
The committee will consist of the following individuals: principal, teachers, P.E. teachers, students, school board members, county health nurse, parents and cafeteria personnel.
It will be the responsibility of the principal of the school to ensure that Holy Rosary School complies with the local wellness policy.
Holy Rosary School will promote to parents, families and the general community the benefits of healthy eating and physical activity throughout the school year. Families will be informed and invited to participate in the school’s activities and events that are focused on health and will receive information concerning health promotion efforts. Means of communication to parents and the general community will be through email messages, school web page, and the school hand book. This information will be presented at the beginning of each school year.
School Meals
Holy Rosary School is committed to serving healthy meals to students, with fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and fat-free and low-fat milk; that are moderate in sodium, low in saturated fat, and meet the nutrition needs of the students and to improve the diet and health of the students.
The School participates in USDA child nutrition programs which includes the National School Lunch Program. The School is committed to offering school meals that:
To support healthy food choices and improve student health and well-being, all foods and beverages outside the reimbursable school meal programs that are sold to students on the school campus during the school day will meet or exceed the USDA Smart Snacks nutrition standards. These standards will apply in all locations and through all services where foods and beverages are sold.
Teachers will monitor the foods that are provided to students outside of mealtime at class parties, snacks, etc. These celebrations will take place during the last hour of the school day so that they do not interfere with the school meal. Students and parents will be encouraged to provide healthy food choices for these occasions.
Nutrition Education
The School will teach, encourage and support healthy eating by all students. The School will provide nutrition education and engage in nutrition promotion that:
Essential Healthy Eating Topics in Health Education
The School will include in the health education curriculum a variety of the following essential topics on healthy eating:
Nutrition Promotion
Cafeteria personnel and teachers will encourage students to experience the taste of healthy foods of which they have not before experienced.
Teachers will present lessons on the importance of making healthy food choices in order to maintain good physical health.
Cafeteria personnel and teachers will use suggested strategies from Smarter Lunchrooms to bring awareness to the students of the importance of making healthy food choices.
Physical Activity
Holy Rosary School will provide physical education classes for all students as well as provide daily recess time.
Recess monitors or teachers will encourage students to be active, and will serve as role models by being physically active alongside the students whenever feasible.
Teachers will provide stretching time during the school day between classes.
Teachers will incorporate movement and kinesthetic learning approaches into “core” subject instruction when possible, and do their part to limit sedentary behavior during the school day.
Other School-Based Strategies for Wellness
The School will integrate wellness activities across the entire school setting, not just in the cafeteria, other food and beverage venues and physical activity facilities. The School will coordinate and integrate other initiatives related to physical activity, physical education, nutrition and other wellness components so all efforts are complementary, not duplicative, and work towards the same set of goals and objectives promoting student well-being, optimal development and strong educational outcomes.
Assessment
The local wellness program will be reviewed on a yearly basis. Needed revisions will be made as needed. The results of the review will be made available to all members of the school community.
The local wellness policy will be assessed every three years. The members of the committee will make recommendations for modifications as needed.
All members of the school community, that is: parents, students, teachers, staff, etc., will be informed of any revisions, additions or deletions from the local wellness policy on a yearly basis. Communication will be through the school web site, school handbook and email messages.
Holy Rosary Catholic School is committed to the optimal development of every student. The School believes that for students to have the opportunity to achieve personal, academic, developmental and social success, we need to create positive, safe and health-promoting learning environments at every level, in every setting, throughout the school year.
Research shows that two components, good nutrition and physical activity before, during and after the school day, are strongly correlated with positive student outcomes. In addition, students who are physically active through recess, physical activity breaks, physical education and extracurricular activities – do better academically.
This policy outlines the Schools approach to ensuring environments and opportunities for all students to practice healthy eating and physical activity behaviors throughout the school day. This policy establishes goals and procedures to ensure that:
- Students in the School have access to healthy foods throughout the school day.
- Students receive quality nutrition education that helps them develop lifelong healthy eating behaviors;
- Students have opportunities to be physically active during and after school;
- The school engages in nutrition and physical activity promotion and other activities that promote student wellness;
- School staff are encouraged and supported to practice healthy nutrition and physical activity behaviors in and out of school;
- The School establishes and maintains a plan for management, implementation, communication about and monitoring of the policy and its established goals and objectives.
Committee Role and Membership
The School will convene a representative School Wellness Committee to establish goals for and oversee school health and safety policies and programs, including development, implementation and periodic review and update of this School Wellness Policy.
The committee will consist of the following individuals: principal, teachers, P.E. teachers, students, school board members, county health nurse, parents and cafeteria personnel.
It will be the responsibility of the principal of the school to ensure that Holy Rosary School complies with the local wellness policy.
Holy Rosary School will promote to parents, families and the general community the benefits of healthy eating and physical activity throughout the school year. Families will be informed and invited to participate in the school’s activities and events that are focused on health and will receive information concerning health promotion efforts. Means of communication to parents and the general community will be through email messages, school web page, and the school hand book. This information will be presented at the beginning of each school year.
School Meals
Holy Rosary School is committed to serving healthy meals to students, with fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and fat-free and low-fat milk; that are moderate in sodium, low in saturated fat, and meet the nutrition needs of the students and to improve the diet and health of the students.
The School participates in USDA child nutrition programs which includes the National School Lunch Program. The School is committed to offering school meals that:
- Are accessible to all students;
- Are appealing and attractive to children;
- Are served in clean and pleasant settings;
- Meet or exceed current nutrition requirements; (The School offers reimbursable school meals that meet USDA nutrition standards.)
- Promote healthy food and beverage choices;
To support healthy food choices and improve student health and well-being, all foods and beverages outside the reimbursable school meal programs that are sold to students on the school campus during the school day will meet or exceed the USDA Smart Snacks nutrition standards. These standards will apply in all locations and through all services where foods and beverages are sold.
Teachers will monitor the foods that are provided to students outside of mealtime at class parties, snacks, etc. These celebrations will take place during the last hour of the school day so that they do not interfere with the school meal. Students and parents will be encouraged to provide healthy food choices for these occasions.
Nutrition Education
The School will teach, encourage and support healthy eating by all students. The School will provide nutrition education and engage in nutrition promotion that:
- Is designed to provide students with the knowledge and skills necessary to promote and protect their health;
- Is part of not only health education classes, but also integrated into other classroom instruction through subjects such as math, science, language arts and social sciences;
- Promotes fruits, vegetables, whole-grain products, low-fat and fat-free dairy products and healthy food preparation methods;
- Includes nutrition education training for teachers and other staff.
Essential Healthy Eating Topics in Health Education
The School will include in the health education curriculum a variety of the following essential topics on healthy eating:
- Relationship between healthy eating and personal health and disease prevention
- Reading and using FDA's nutrition fact labels
- Eating a variety of foods every day
- Balancing food intake and physical activity
- Eating more fruits, vegetables and whole grain products
- Choosing foods and beverages with little added sugars
- Eating more calcium-rich foods
- Preparing healthy meals and snacks
- Food safety
- Importance of water consumption
- Importance of eating breakfast
- Reducing sodium intake
Nutrition Promotion
Cafeteria personnel and teachers will encourage students to experience the taste of healthy foods of which they have not before experienced.
Teachers will present lessons on the importance of making healthy food choices in order to maintain good physical health.
Cafeteria personnel and teachers will use suggested strategies from Smarter Lunchrooms to bring awareness to the students of the importance of making healthy food choices.
Physical Activity
Holy Rosary School will provide physical education classes for all students as well as provide daily recess time.
Recess monitors or teachers will encourage students to be active, and will serve as role models by being physically active alongside the students whenever feasible.
Teachers will provide stretching time during the school day between classes.
Teachers will incorporate movement and kinesthetic learning approaches into “core” subject instruction when possible, and do their part to limit sedentary behavior during the school day.
Other School-Based Strategies for Wellness
The School will integrate wellness activities across the entire school setting, not just in the cafeteria, other food and beverage venues and physical activity facilities. The School will coordinate and integrate other initiatives related to physical activity, physical education, nutrition and other wellness components so all efforts are complementary, not duplicative, and work towards the same set of goals and objectives promoting student well-being, optimal development and strong educational outcomes.
Assessment
The local wellness program will be reviewed on a yearly basis. Needed revisions will be made as needed. The results of the review will be made available to all members of the school community.
The local wellness policy will be assessed every three years. The members of the committee will make recommendations for modifications as needed.
All members of the school community, that is: parents, students, teachers, staff, etc., will be informed of any revisions, additions or deletions from the local wellness policy on a yearly basis. Communication will be through the school web site, school handbook and email messages.