Fruit in Schools

Case studies

Whole-school approaches to wellbeing at Riverton Primary School

Introducing Riverton Primary School
The fit between existing school practices and FIS
Specific initiatives in the four health areas
Student perspectives
Connecting with parents and whānau
Challenges
Sustainability and where to next?

Download the Riverton Primary School Case Study (PDF, 60 KB)

Introducing Riverton Primary School

Riverton Primary School (RPS) is a decile 2 contributing school located in a rural area of Southland. The school serves a highly transient but supportive community. The roll includes approximately 200 students: about two-thirds are NZ European, and one-third are Māori. RPS started FIS in November 2005. Prior to that, the school had used HPS approaches for three years.

RPS has a strong focus on the whole child and on looking beyond literacy and numeracy outcomes. Staff aim to support students to become connected, well-balanced children who can make good decisions. The school philosophy is that students will learn well if they are physically and emotionally well, and have a sense of belonging or connectedness with the school and teachers, and a voice in decision making. Emphases on celebrating students’ successes and forming connections with the local community are other features of the school connected with this philosophy.

The fit between existing school practices and FIS

Staff at RPS saw the FIS initiative as a timely development that aligned with, and could enhance, their existing school focus on wellbeing. A number of features of the school culture and the teaching and learning programmes at RPS are supporting FIS goals to be incorporated into the daily life of the school. These are described below.

Strategic leadership

The principal at RPS has a purposeful approach to management. She is a key driver and supporter of the school’s emphasis on health and wellbeing, and is a member of the regional FIS steering group. The health teacher, who is also the FIS lead teacher, is in a management position in the school. This support from management gives the whole school community the view that student health and wellbeing and FIS are important.

To achieve the school’s wellbeing goals, the principal is purposeful about hiring experienced teachers who have an empathy for the low-decile environment. She uses extra contract funds and plays to staff’s strengths to develop programmes that are carefully targeted to student needs.

Student wellbeing and student-centred practice

Following participation in the Mentally-Healthy Schools contract and the Cool Schools Peer Mediation programme a few years ago, RPS started to develop whole-school approaches to enhancing student connectedness and wellbeing. Fostering a school culture that includes and empowers all students is a key part of this, and a number of approaches have been put in place to ensure that students feel connected to school. These include: a personal welcome for new families; an emphasis on all staff knowing and using all students’ names; the school uniform, sun hats, and road safety vests; and school-wide behaviour management training for staff which centres around encouraging students to set goals and explore their rights and responsibilities. This focus on encouraging students to take responsibility for their learning aligns with the approaches RPS staff are developing in numeracy and literacy (through whole-school participation in numeracy and literacy PD).

A focus on celebrating success, a “can do” philosophy, and the use of a range of avenues to develop students’ leadership skills are other aspects of RPS’s approach to wellbeing. Each class takes turns running assemblies and the activities in which all Years 5 and 6 students engage are reviewed by school leaders to ensure all have opportunities to show leadership, develop a range of skills, and partake in activities that connect with their interests. Some students are members of a health team, some lead assemblies, and others are part of regional student forums or leaders in school sports, choir, or kapa haka troupes.

Targeted programmes for students and staff are also part of the RPS approach. The school has a school counsellor and an RTLB who worked with students. Using MoE moderate needs and other funding, the health teacher is released to train staff on behaviour management practices, and facilitate a health team and a programme staff developed called Boyszone.

Boyszone targets boys who are lacking in confidence, self-esteem, social, or physical skills, or who are dealing with anger, change, or loss issues. These boys participate in daily small-group sessions. The focus of these sessions is on developing the boys’ connectedness and resilience through role modelling and opportunities to develop new interests in areas such as outdoor and physical education, ICT, and music. The ultimate aim of Boyszone is to give students the skills they need to have an engaged and active lifestyle.

A number of the school health and wellbeing initiatives are led by a school health team. This team consists of two or three students from each of the Years 5 and 6 classes, the health teacher, and a couple of parents. As part of FIS, the students in this team recently received leadership training from the local Active Schools facilitator, and they are organising games for other students at break times. The team is also working with the parents who run the canteen to design a healthier menu with the aim of working through the Heart Foundation’s award programme.

School leaders considered the focus on wellbeing is resulting in improvements in students’ sense of connectedness, social skills, and behaviour. They also viewed many aspects of this focus, such as the emphasis on student leadership and outdoor education, as aligned with FIS processes or goals. Overall, the highlighting of the four FIS areas is assisting in refining and strengthening the prior “helter, skelter” approach of the health team so that it now centres on “big” issues.

Using inquiry/integrated models to integrate FIS areas into the curriculum

For the last few years RPS has been shifting towards developing a whole-school inquiry/integrated approach to learning. School leaders consider inquiry approaches are likely to promote engagement as they give students opportunities for in-depth learning about topics of interest to themselves. To develop consistency in practice across the school, a staff member with a strength in inquiry is given release time each week to use Lane Clark’s inquiry model1 to develop whole-school thematic units and support teachers. In 2006 she developed inquiry themes that connected with the FIS areas. In Term 1, the umbrella theme centred around the “healthy brain”. The focus question for this unit was: “What does great learning look like and how can we use it to make a difference in the way we learn in our classroom and in the future?”

During this unit, students from all year levels explored the impact on their learning of a variety of areas including: healthy food and drink options; hygiene; healthy lifestyle choices; learning styles; and social interactions such as co-operative behaviours. An example of a student mindmap on what assisted their learning is shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1 Student inquiry mindmap
Student inquiry mindmap.

As part of this work, the local PHN visited classes to talk about hygiene, a visit from the Life Education bus was tailored around aspects of the unit, and some students did food packet reading to analyse fat and sugar content. In the “action” part of the inquiry cycle students worked together to publish a rights and responsibilities booklet about roles in co-operative groups, and some students wrote a section for the school newsletter on healthy lunch choices.

In Term 4, the inquiry theme centred around recording changes such as climate patterns and plant growth. This unit incorporates ideas about being protected from the sun. Staff considered the school inquiry model aligned well with health promotion approaches, and the thematic approach to planning was supporting FIS goals to become embedded in the curriculum.

Specific initiatives in the four health areas

In 2006, school priorities centred around healthy eating and physical activity, with a smaller focus on sunsmart practices. The school community is working toward making changes in these areas at various levels of the school system. The health teacher attends FIS cluster meetings and shares the ideas he gains with school staff, and FIS goals were incorporated into a recent upgrade of health and wellbeing policies and procedures. Particular initiatives in each of the four FIS areas are described below.

Healthy eating

Prior to FIS, RPS had a healthy snacks policy. As a result of starting FIS, this was extended so that all classes have “brain breaks” with water, healthy snacks, fruit, and brief physical activities. This approach is also used at staff meetings. The school has other healthy eating policies, for example, students are not allowed to bring fizzy or energy drinks, sweets, or juice packets for lunch or buy lunch from the dairy. The school is working towards a water-only drink policy and a healthier canteen, and a breakfast club provides healthy options. Staff are making efforts to give healthy food messages at school events and when fund raising. Fizzy drinks or chips are not offered at discos or community days. Parents/whānau are asked to bring healthy food for the shared lunches that occur at students’ celebrations of learning, and buckets with a potato plant have replaced chocolate bars as a fundraiser.

Physical activity

Prior to FIS, RPS had a strong physical education and activity focus, with a range of activities and sports available for students, both in and out of classtime. In 2005, about half of the students were involved in a touch rugby tournament, and similar numbers were expected in 2006. Staff considered that FIS was enhancing this focus. During 2006 all teachers attended Active Schools PD. Teachers found this very beneficial. They are using the CD and the other resources provided, and are more conscious of doing some form of physical activity with students every day. The health teacher considered this PD increased his awareness that physical activity has a deeper context than just skill learning, and was encouraging him to consider how he could best develop inclusive programmes that gave students the knowledge as well as leadership, social, co-operative, and motor skills they need to manage their current and future leisure activities.

Other physical activity initiatives include a new sandpit to encourage juniors to be more active and breaktime games run by students on the health team. All those we talked to noted that these games supported students to be more active at breaktimes and were improving social behaviours.

Sunsmart

In 2006, the school included sunhats as part of the school uniform and made sunscreen available in Terms 1 and 4 for all students and staff. Recently the school built new rain and shade awning, and more shade covering was planned.

Smokefree

School leaders noted that they had yet to focus on smokefree as part of FIS, but RPS was an early promoter of smokefree messages. The principal observed that a recent event had been the first time she did not have to ask community members not to smoke.

Student perspectives

During our visit to RPS we talked to five students from the health team. These students thought learning about the FIS areas was important to give them the knowledge, skills, and behaviours they would need to lead a healthy and balanced life, and to be role models. They gained a lot of satisfaction from their work on the health team and observed that they and other students were “really into” the free fruit.

The students tended to emphasise the information and experiences they had as part of their work on the health team, with the Active Schools facilitator, and from Life Education bus visits as catalysts that had empowered them to make changes. They also talked about learning about healthy behaviours and hygiene in class. However, except for the knowledge they had gained about healthy eating, they tended not to talk about these experiences as a prompt for behaviour change.

Nearly all of these students could describe a recent change they had made at school or at home in each of the four FIS areas. Their work with the Active Schools facilitator helped them to design ways to support other students to be active at breaktimes:

Before we did health promotion heaps of people would sit about—now people get out and run about…people don’t have to be bored anymore…

Through this work they noted they had become role models, and were developing leadership and planning skills they could use to organise groups of people in the future.

Students also described how they had, as part of their work on the health team and during inquiry units, learnt about healthy food options. They all gave examples of how, as a result, they were trying to eat healthier food in and outside of school, or were aiming for a better balance between healthy and unhealthy choices. One described how she and her sisters used to eat chocolate after dinner, now “I eat more fruit at home and less lollies, but I still eat lollies!” Overall, students considered that “people are eating more fruit” at school and that as a result of their work with parents “the canteen has a more healthy menu”.

Students noted that learning about sunsmart had prompted the school to include sunhats as part of the school uniform and develop a policy that students are not allowed out of school on visits if they are not wearing a hat. As a result, these students reported they wore sunhats more often, and reported that “heaps of people” used a new bottle of sunscreen that had been placed by the staffroom. In terms of their home behaviours, one talked about how they are now thinking more about “staying out of the sun when it is really really boiling”. Another described how they had encouraged their mother to take more sunscreen to the beach.

The black lungs the students saw during a Life Education bus visit and the “smoking in the car” ads on TV had a powerful impact on these students. A number talked about how they or their siblings were using their knowledge about the harmful effects of smoking to influence family members and family friends:

I have tried to stop dad smoking and he is also trying… …my sister told him not to smoke in the car so he stopped.

Connecting with parents and whānau

The parents to whom we talked are very supportive of the school’s holistic approach to health and wellbeing, which incorporates FIS. The principal reported that recent parent/whānau consultation indicated this support is widespread.

The parents described how the school uses the “Friends of the school” organisation, of which they are part, to galvanise parental/whānau support so that they are “working for the same cause” on school health and wellbeing goals. These parents engage in fundraising and other activities to support FIS activities. Recently they funded the new sandpit, explored healthier food options for the canteen and school events, and provided sunscreen. Along with school staff, they reported that many other parents/whānau promote physical activity and student connectedness though the coaching and assistance they provide to school sports teams and through assistance on outdoor education activities such as school camps.

Parents and staff described how the school runs a number of events that connect the school with its community. A recent pet day was a particular highlight. This was attended by parents/whānau, students, and teachers, as well as other local people including rest home residents and business owners. Every child contributed in some way, either by showing their pet or a craft they had made. When talking about this day, one parent said “we felt this year it is a real community day”. The school used this event to publicise messages about healthy food, and smokefree behaviours.

Parents and staff described a number of other mechanisms the school uses to connect with parents/whānau. FIS goals are woven into some of these strategies. Strategies considered effective include involving students and food in the sharing of successes. For example, staff organise shared healthy food celebrations of learning at the end of each major inquiry unit. At these celebrations, students present their work. Another strategy is targeting parents with personal invitations and positive messages; for example, the principal made a point of ringing parents to report on successes such as telling a parent that their child had the highest score on a maths test.

The parents we talked to view the school as very welcoming and as having a “really open policy” on paper, and in practice, with parents feeling able to observe in classes any time. Staff described how they actively tried to connect with parents, especially those with whom they had little contact, build relationships, and value parental/whānau input. Ways they did this include extending personalised invitations to events or organising morning teas to thank volunteers.

Every couple of years the school holds consultations in the homes of local parents/whānau. All parents are personally invited and offered transport if necessary. To connect with the local Māori community, a separate consultation is held with parents/whānau of students in the bilingual class and school leaders attend hui at the local marae.

Providing parents with information is also part of the school’s approach. Recently, a leaflet about healthy options and lunches students could make themselves was sent home. The options were connected to the specials on offer at the local supermarket. In the past the school has also organised speakers such as local health nurses to talk about areas such as effective parenting.

Challenges

School leaders noted that FIS permeated many aspects of the school and there are many changes they could still make. One change that was proving to be more difficult was swapping the snack box in the staffroom for healthier options. Finding new ways of sharing messages with parents, and in particular, connecting with a small group of harder to reach parents was an ongoing challenge.

Teachers expressed some concern that all aspects of the FIS PD model did not align with good practice whole-staff models of PD. The whole-school Active Schools approach had been successful, and teachers noted that they would like more opportunities for similar whole-school PD on aspects of FIS, or opportunities to meet and discuss initiatives with people from other schools.

Sustainability and where to next?

The gift of daily fruit through FIS was engendering much goodwill in the school community at RPS. Staff, students, and parents/whānau were all committed to ongoing development of approaches that align with FIS and support students to develop the skills they needed to make healthy choices. Staff noted that the sharper focus of the health team, combined with the whole-school inquiry units, and the increased access to health promoters that FIS facilitated, was increasing the depth and breadth of the school’s approaches to health and wellbeing. As one teacher said, “It won’t be one of those things that fizzle out—you’re doing it every day.” In addition, the school community was working together to develop healthy practices and policies across the school.

School leaders are at the initial stages of considering how to continue the provision of fruit through fundraising or sponsorship, and whether they would continue funding a healthy snacks initiative once the FIS funding ceased. All those interviewed would like to see fruit provision continued in some form, and teachers were concerned about the school’s ability to self-fund.

In the future, a number of initiatives that connect with FIS are planned. These include a student-led enviroschools project and involving parents/whānau in redesigning the school grounds. Other plans to keep FIS goals on the agenda include the development of an inquiry unit that incorporates smokefree, ongoing whole-school PD relating to FIS, and a review of the school PE philosophy to align it with the Active Schools focus on lifelong learning skills.

Footnotes

For an example of a similar inquiry approach see www.tki.org.nz/r/gifted/tdi/funding_pool/stories/ilam/inquiry_e.php