Sunday, July 2022
Bucasia State School was the first school in the Mackay region in Queensland to achieve Healthy Eats Accreditation in 2021.
Assistant Deputy Principal at Bucasia State School, Nicole Peltonen said Healthy Eats was a great fit for Bucasia State School, aligning with the school’s goals of providing meaningful learning experiences for its students and working with the parent body to prepare students for their future.
“We are extremely proud to become one of the first schools to receive Healthy Eats accreditation in our region. While our school has always had a strong focus on health and wellbeing, becoming a Healthy Eats School has allowed us to collaboratively work alongside our school community to develop a whole school approach towards healthy food and drink choices,” said Ms. Peltonen.
The whole school has come together to get behind the program, which has led to some great initiatives, including a thriving edible garden, a 4-star Smart Choices Tuckshop menu and a regular breakfast club for all students.
One of the keys to Bucasia’s success was their willingness to integrate the Healthy Eats philosophy across the whole school, including areas such as STEM.
In 2021 Bucasia ran a Lego competition with Healthy Eats as a theme to really get students thinking about what a healthy food choice is and what it looks like, in combination with how they would build their idea using the Lego blocks as materials.
Entries included assortments of fruit being devoured by hungry caterpillars, healthy lunchboxes, a fruit and veg theme park and the winning entry – a scene of Lego gardeners growing enormous fruits and vegies!
“The students were very creative and engaged, and they were so proud to show off their creations in the library for the whole school to visit,” said Ms. Peltonen
Ms. Peltonen said the school has found the Healthy Eats program valuable for Bucasia State School and would encourage other schools to consider taking up the program and the accreditation pathway.
“We have thoroughly enjoyed working with Kristina Woodberry, our Community Development Officer from the Life Education Queensland Healthy Eats team, through the accreditation process and she has been extremely supportive, and the process has been easy,” said Ms Peltonen.
Find out more about the Bucasia State School Healthy Eats competition.
You can also find out more about the Healthy Eats program here.
