Empowering school wellness committee to find their own solutions

How can you raise awareness in schools on a healthy lifestyle and ensure that this awareness is sustained over time?

Consistent internal and external communication is a key element in changing the culture and implementing on-going wellness strategies to improve the health and wellbeing of both children and faculty in schools. Establishing and improving school wellness policies is a key strategy in maintaining momentum as teachers and administrators change.

We support school districts and supervisory unions in assembling wellness committees that meet regularly to address wellness policies and practices in their schools. Our wellness specialists work with administrators and teachers to convene and facilitate wellness committee meetings and provide technical assistance and support to address wellness in their schools. We also have an embedded school-based wellness specialist who is working with teachers and administrators to integrate kinesthetic learning and movement into the classroom curriculum.

Our work in schools has resulted in measurable improvement in school wellness policy. Our lead supervisory union increased its score on the national measure (the WellSat Assessment) from 16% to 82% in strength and 100% in comprehension. That is a remarkable improvement that not only impacts their students but has helped motivate other supervisory unions to improve their own policies.