Wednesday, March 2022
Welcome to the first edition of the Healthy Eats Grapevine for 2022.
It has been a difficult start to the year with Covid delaying the beginning of the term and most recently the devastating Qld and NSW floods impacting so many families and schools, our hearts go out to those affected.
We hope that all affected schools and families are on the road to recovery, and that the new term brings renewed energy for everyone.
I am very pleased to share with you an external evaluation of the Healthy Eats program by Griffith University School of Social Marketing.
This evaluation is an important stepping-stone for Life Education Queensland in our journey to deepen our social impact and make a greater difference for children’s health, now and in the future.
We are extremely excited to be welcoming several new schools to the Healthy Eats program this year, both in North Queensland and Southeast Queensland, and are delighted to have a few familiar faces on board again, to build on their successful program implementation in 2021 and work toward achieving Healthy Eats accreditation.
Speaking of familiar faces, Healthy Eats welcomed another familiar face in North Queensland, our Talk About It educator Megan, to the team. Megan is passionate about educating students in all areas of health and well-being and has been excited to add nutrition education to her repertoire.
Megan will be remaining in the role while we find a new Community Development Officer to replace the wonderful Kristina who unfortunately, won’t be returning to the role, having decided to move back to South Australia to be closer to family.
I hope you enjoy this latest issue, as we share some fantastic new Healthy Eats videos recently completed with Mossman State School and Port Douglas State School and share a delicious healthy muesli bar recipe that would be at home in any school lunchbox.
I would like to wish you all a relaxing and revitalising Easter break and look forward to seeing everyone again in Term 2.
Michael Fawsitt
CEO, Life Education Qld
In this issue (click the links below to skip to the story):
Megan is a familiar face at many North Queensland schools already, having worked for Life Education Qld since 2018 as the ‘Talk About It’ sexual health educator as well as delivering Healthy Eats for a short time in 2020.
Off to a flying start, Megan has been out and about visiting some of our new and returning Healthy Eats schools for 2022 and is enjoying getting back into some nutrition education.
“I think it is so important that everyone has access to health and nutrition education because it can not only affect the current generation, but also future generations, both positively and negatively. Understanding how to fuel your body efficiently is a skill that needs to be learned.” Megan said.
Megan will be working closely with our Cairns, Townsville and Mackay region schools.
It is with much sadness that we farewell our wonderful North Queensland Community Development Officer Kristina.
As many of us know, life changes quite a bit when a little one comes along, and after welcoming their beautiful baby boy, Spencer in December last year, Kristina and her partner Josh have decided to relocate back to South Australia to be closer to both their families.
Establishing relationships from the very beginning, Kristina was true to the nature of the position, being an in-community development officer, facilitating many local partnerships, working closely with community stakeholders, Healthy Eats coordinators, teachers, students, and parents to help schools achieve their unique Healthy Eats goals.
Kristina has done a brilliant job supporting 7 schools, in the first year of the Healthy Eats Accreditation program, to get across the line and become Accredited Healthy Eats Schools.
This is no small feat, and we want to sincerely thank Kristina for her amazing contribution and would like to wish her and her family all the very best in all their future endeavours.
At the end of last year, we were lucky to head to North Queensland to work with both Mossman State School and Port Douglas State School on a couple of great videos that share the school’s experiences with accreditation including looking at the different elements involved in becoming Healthy Eats Accredited.
In the brand-new videos, we get a closer look at how Mossman State School was able to create a thriving school fruit and veggie garden and gain an insight into the experience of the Mossman State School Healthy Eats student leaders during the program.
We worked with Port Douglas State School to document the professional development session, available to all Healthy Eats schools and find out how teachers implemented the knowledge gained in the presentation to make healthy eating a priority in their classrooms.
Check out the videos now! Did you or your child make an appearance?
Check out this yummy and easy to make museli bar recipe that would be at home in any school lunchbox, from our friends at Nutrition Australia.
This recipe makes 28 bars and only takes 10 minutes to prep and 25 minutes to bake.
Ingredients
Method
When Jo Warburton, former teacher at Julatten State School found Healthy Eats she knew it would be a perfect partner for the school.
“Healthy Eats was perfect. It really aligned with my passion for encouraging students to eat well and make healthy choices, but it also aligned with the curriculum and was easily integrated within our planning,” said Jo.
Jo took the idea to her principal, who agreed it would be beneficial for the school to be involved, so they joined the Healthy Eats program and committed to working towards accreditation.
Healthy Eats Community Development Officer, Kristina Woodberry, worked closely with the school throughout the year supporting them to reach full Healthy Eats Accreditation by the end of 2021.
“Julatten was a great school to work with. They were very proactive and really got the kids involved and excited about the program. I was even lucky enough to be part of one of their healthy smoothie making lessons and school cook-ups,” said Kristina.
The healthy smoothie recipes, along with their creators, even featured on the Healthy Eats webpage and social media.
“The program, and how we integrated it into our classroom through cook-ups from the garden and creating recipes, along with activities like the passport competition, all really engaged the kids and made them more aware of their food choices,” said Jo.
As part of the accreditation process, students are invited to become ‘Healthy Eats Student Leaders’ whose mission it is to promote healthy eating to other students and share their knowledge of making healthy choices through a variety of activities at school.
“Some of our Healthy Eats Student Leaders had missed out on other leadership roles in the school, so this was a terrific opportunity for them to still have that experience, and they really did pick it up and make it their own, creating posters and sharing tips and ideas for making healthy choices at parade, etc.,” said Jo.
The school worked closely with their P&C and other community partners like the local Bunnings, to provide assistance with achieving other accreditation goals, including setting up a fantastic fruit and veggie garden and working with the Student Council to incorporate healthy snacks into the tuckshop.
“It really was a collective effort to achieve accreditation and we are very proud to have done it.” said Jo.
“Any school who is trying to make the decision whether or not to have Healthy Eats should definitely go for it. It was a great experience that really benefited the school and the students.”
Recently, Griffith University evaluated the Healthy Eats program, and we are delighted to share the results with you.
The report showed students in Healthy Eats schools have improved access to healthier food options and greater opportunity to eat healthy food than before their involvement with the Healthy Eats program.
The program was able to
*Healthy Eats schools only
QAST offers a range of affordable, quality training courses to help you run a successful, safe and profitable tuckshop.
1) FOOD SAFETY SUPERVISOR COURSE (face-to-face ONLY)
Gain the skills you need to work hygienically when handling food and to ensure the safety of food during its storage, preparation, display, service, and disposal.
2) CONVENOR COURSE (online by the QAST team and face-to-face)
Get the skills and confidence you need to run a successful tuckshop, along with tools and tips for support when you need it.
3) PATHWAY TO PROFIT COURSE (online by the QAST team and face-to-face)
Learn how to manage your tuckshop as an effective small business.
4) FOOD HANDLERS COURSE (online, self-paced)
Provides tuckshop staff and volunteers with food handling knowledge.
5) FOOD SAFETY SUPERVISOR REFRESHER COURSE – coming soon (online, self-paced)
For more information and to register visit https://qast.org.au/training-events/ or connect with the QAST team https://qast.org.au/contact/
