Report on school's healthy lifestyle day visit on 100907...

Hi all,

Here is another short report from my visit to my brother's school on Monday. They conducted a massive healthy lifestyle week on 10 - 11 sept.

Activities:

1) They had events that encouraged student participation from all primary levels - Mass work out, games and quizzes.

Drawback - It became rather messy due to inadequate crowd control, as students were all over the place.

Good thing - Students were VERY active when it came to quizzes, 3-4 even came up to answer one question! Hence would support that quizzes and games are key to obtain willing participation.

2) Many events were held concurrently

Drawback - Only selected student groups (mainly participants) had maximum exposure for certain events. Eg: Students left for the Sandwich making competition during the mass work out.

3) There were less than 10 parents despite a notice from the school encouraging family members to be present to attend. This is damn sad. I spoke to some, some did not even want to come, but thought that they could see the events on the ground.

Then again, parents were not even briefed on the activities, hence, many kept a distance from the students, as they did not really know what to do.

Learning point - Reconsider inviting parents to attend ours. It's a working day too, most parents may not attend. Even the housewifes I spoke to were rather reluctant to come.

4) There were trophies as a form of recognition of the students efforts. Shaun also said that we could come up with a "challenge trophy" for sustainability purposes. This is a good point.

5) Creative items / contests - There was a student rap competition on how to save water (health issue? haha)...This was the best item that morning, and many enjoyed it. Hey, even primary 3s can RAP man! We could consider some kind of activitiy in that sense too.

6) The sandwich com encouraged students from all primary levels to participate. But it seemed that as soon as they finished the sandwiches, they took a group pic and cleared up. There was no crowd supporting etc. Seems that they (the teachers) just wanted to get things over and done with. I saw the students looking rather dejected too..the cute chef hats and aprons did not help too. I felt like crying...

Logistics:

1) There were health related sponsors like Gardenia, Evian and optic point. HPB was there with a eat healthy display.

Drawback - There were many info boards on health and eyesight issues, BUT these were not even visited by the students. Perhaps due to the lack of ample visit time. I wonder if this served its purpose. Students were encouraged to visit these during recess, but I also wonder how many would turn up?

These boards are also generic material, and may not be effective at specific health issues.

2) Gardenia sponsored the sandwich making competition. I am not advocating for sponsors in any respect. Gardenia has some healthy food pyramid board on the tables, but it was not filled in at all...(see pics). Hence, I also wonder the effectiveness of this.

Learning point - Consider if sponsors are to be involved, and if so, how to maximise their presence in the school.

I asked my brother if he learnt anything or was he impressed with the setup etc..He just said not really. He was more like talking to his friends, and only learnt a bit of stuff.

Lastly, I feel that the school just casted a wide net on the students on MANY health issues, but failed to identify and target at some that really need help. Whether this "campaign" will sustain into a yearly affair...I have my doubts. It's like.."Ok kids, let's do this for the sake of it, and call it a day."

Alvin