Fruit in Schools

Case studies

A Focus on Lifelong Learning at Wiri Central School

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

Download: Wiri Central School Case Study (PDF, 40 KB)

Introducing Wiri Central School
Wiri Central School is a decile 1 full primary school located in an urban area of South Auckland. In 2004 and 2005, the school expanded to include Years 7 and 8 students and the school now has a roll of about 550. Of these students, nearly two-thirds are Pasifika, about one-third are Māori, and the others are NZ European or from other ethnicities. Wiri Central School has been using the HPS process for a number of years, and joined FIS in Phase 2.

Wiri Central School has a core focus on lifelong learning and the provision of opportunities and experiences that will support this. Although literacy and numeracy skills are a key focus, staff at Wiri have a holistic approach to teaching that emphasises the importance of student behaviour and health in influencing student achievement. This holistic approach extends beyond students to their family/whānau and the wider community with whom strong school–community links have been forged.

In 2006, Wiri Central School was visited by members of the World Health Organisation. Partners of the Pacific Regional Delegates visited the school to observe FIS in action. The staff and students at Wiri Central School are proud of their school community and were honoured by the opportunity to demonstrate their commitment to health and wellbeing.

The fit between existing school practices and FIS
Staff at Wiri Central School viewed FIS as a timely initiative that complemented their existing focus on health and which provided direction and strategies for achieving the school’s goals. Staff had worked to ensure that FIS activities fit within the framework of existing practices:

…we’ve tried to make it part of day to day operation so that it’s not seen as a big extra thing to do.

At the same time, being part of FIS has helped to develop and strengthen school goals and activities around the four key health areas.

Leadership
A core group of school leaders (the principal, DP, and FIS lead teacher) have a passion and commitment to ensuring the ongoing wellbeing of their students and the community, and this is exemplified in their purposeful approach to leadership. The school leaders attend ongoing development days and cluster meetings for the FIS programme and continue to share learnings from these meetings with the wider Wiri staff.

The school’s lead FIS teacher is also a member of the board of trustees and he, along with the school’s principal and DP, organises and attends health focus groups. These meetings provide opportunities for social workers and other members of the community to engage in strategic planning for the development of initiatives that support the four FIS areas in the wider community. One example is an after-school walking programme for community members.

As senior management, the school leaders are also integral to the future planning of class curriculum and school activities. In planning, they ensure that FIS goals are embedded into the curriculum wherever possible. A key example is the planning that took place this year to ensure that curriculum, school activities, and policy would enable the school to qualify for Sunsmart accreditation in 2007.

Student wellbeing and student-centred practice
Wiri Central School has an inclusive approach to engagement, with the students and their family/whānau and values a respectful interaction with all. There is a strong emphasis on developing and maintaining pride in the school community, while at the same time fostering a sense of self-reliance. This is accomplished through a number of strategies that focus on students and their wellbeing.

The school has a focus on student-centred practice, which has been supported by recent PD. One aspect of this is encouraging students to develop leadership skills as they engage in FIS-related activities. The school has a student health team that is run by Years 7 and 8 students. As councillors and health captains, students are provided with the opportunity to develop skills, act as role models, and to engage in creative activities that propagate FIS messages across the school. Examples include delivering messages at school assemblies and creating or distributing posters regarding sunsmart behaviour at school events. Using a system put in place by the DP, the distribution of free fruit is run entirely by these students.

To create a positive learning environment, the school has adopted a behaviour management strategy called The Wiri Way, which is based on the expectation that children will take individual responsibility for their behaviour. This is achieved by teaching pro-social skills to help eliminate violence/bullying, and is supported by a system of rewards and consequences. Students who exemplify good behaviour are given rewards that support FIS goals. For example, children who have succeeded in managing their behaviour over the course of a month may participate in “happy hours” during which they can engage in special activities (e.g., sports). Rewards are also given to children who demonstrate behaviours that directly support FIS goals. For example, “compliments” may be awarded to children who are seen engaging in sunsmart behaviours such as wearing hats. After six compliments have been accumulated, children are rewarded with sports equipment to keep in their classroom.

Action-based and integrated learning
The use of action-based and integrated learning are key features of the learning environment at Wiri Central School. Staff emphasised that FIS has provided further opportunities for an action-based approach. For example, the provision of free fruit has supported and strengthened students’ understanding of healthy eating and its beneficial effects, and supported staff to design real-life curriculum-focused activities about healthy eating, which weave in messages such as 5+ A Day.

The school’s integrated action-based programme is supported by an onsite learning centre—Te Puna or “The Spring”. Te Puna is a facility that houses multiple mediums for learning including a library, media room, food technology room, and meeting places. Students use the Te Puna facilities to engage in active FIS-related activities that connect different curriculum areas. For example, students plan menus and cook healthy foods, and design ways of sharing FIS messages. Using the media resources, some students have created sunsmart ads and posters that they have distributed in the community. Te Puna also operates as a community meeting place and a facility for community education classes that are connected to FIS goals.

Specific initiatives in the four health areas
In 2006, Wiri Central School had a primary focus on healthy eating and physical activity. However, the school has been working towards making changes in regard to all four FIS areas. FIS has supported an upgrade of policies and procedures surrounding student health and wellbeing, and a number of these enhancements have been supported by HPS initiatives such as Tipu Ka Rea (a three-tiered approach developed by Counties Manukau District Health Board for growing a sustainable Health Promoting School).

The school has also received support from interagency partners, who have provided information and support for the development of FIS-based initiatives within the school. For example, Public Health Nurses have been key sources of information and support during the last year of the programme, and the school leaders aim to work in close consultation with Heart Foundation representatives in developing the school’s new lunch programme in the coming year. School leaders have also sought assistance in developing FIS initiatives via the Cancer Society’s website, which provides information and resources for teacher units, as well as feedback on school policy in relation to Sunsmart accreditation programmes.

The school leaders are committed to empowering students to take action as well as to ongoing PD and ongoing strategic planning and development regarding FIS-related initiatives and implementation. Examples of initiatives undertaken by Wiri Central School in each of the four FIS areas are described below.

Healthy eating
Prior to FIS, the school had a “no fizzy drinks” policy. This policy continues and the school has implemented a number of new strategies and activities to encourage healthy eating. Staff and students promote healthy food messages at assemblies and school-wide functions. The staff at Wiri believe that it is important to model healthy behaviour by “walking the talk” and keep a full fruit bowl in the staffroom. Students are provided with “fruit breaks” and are encouraged at other times to eat healthy snacks.
The school lunchroom, which currently offers some Heart Foundation approved foods, is planned to be renovated in 2007. This will allow for the on-site preparation of a wider variety of healthy foods for students and members of the student health team will assist in the development of the new lunchroom menu.

A key aspect of the campaign for healthy eating at Wiri Central School is the promotion of the message that eating five or more fruits and vegetables a day is healthy. Furthermore, the school tries to encourage ownership of this message by the community. The school leaders indicated that they tell whānau and students “We are giving you one piece of fruit a day—what are you going to do about the other four?” According to students, the reaction to this has been positive, with parents providing more fruit in their school lunches.

Physical activity
Prior to joining FIS, Wiri Central School had a strong focus on physical activity and encouraged student and staff participation in lunch-hour and after-school sports programmes. These programmes have been further strengthened as a result of joining FIS. For example, the school continues to run whole-school sports days and recently held a “Jump off” day. This involved all students and staff actively participating in rope skipping activities that provided the opportunity to raise money for the Heart Foundation.

Teachers noted that students have been much more active on the school playground and that they really look forward to the time that they are given to engage in sports. This time has been increased recently thanks to the employment of a full-time release teacher who guides children through various sports activities during teacher-relief time.

Sunsmart
Wiri Central School has recently turned its attention to promoting sunsmart messages and kicked off its sunsmart campaign during its recent “Jump off” day. The school is aiming to achieve its sunsmart accreditation in 2007 and by doing so will reach the Kowhai level of the Tipu ka Rea programme. The school is well on its way to achieving this and has started to implement a number of sunsmart initiatives. The school has sunhats available to children and will be working with school health team members to design new hats for the school in the coming year. By engaging students in their design, staff hope to make sunhats more “cool”, and as such, more likely to be worn. Sunscreen is available for all students, and they are encouraged to apply it first thing in the morning prior to classes starting. The school has a number of shade areas and is also attempting to grow some shade trees.

Smokefree
Although the school has achieved smokefree accreditation, the school leaders noted that they had yet to complete a school-wide focus on smokefree as part of FIS. However, with programmes around physical activity and healthy eating becoming more entrenched and with the progress on sunsmart well underway it was felt that there would be more room to tackle smokefree messages in the coming year. Strategic planning for promoting smokefree is underway at Wiri Central School and will support existing programmes on drug education offered by the Life Education bus.

Student perspectives
During our visit to Wiri Central School we talked to six students, three of whom were members of the health team. All students were well informed about the FIS health areas and could cite a number of ways they had been involved in both delivering and receiving health-related messages such as through developing media ads, presenting at assemblies, and classroom activities. The students felt that activities that encouraged them to promote FIS messages contributed more to their learning than passive learning exercises.

The students were able to describe recent positive changes that they had made at home or at school in each of the four areas. Many of these changes had to do with their own behaviours, but each also related stories of trying to initiate healthy behaviour change in their parents/whānau by sharing the healthy messages that they had learned, including asking their parents to buy sunscreen, smoke outside, or make healthier dinners.

Students were very positive about receiving free fruit and were excited about trying foods to which they had not been previously exposed and having “a good way to start the day”. Students noted their school promoted messages about healthy eating in a range of ways. For example, they described school policies that supported healthy eating, such as no fizzy drinks and healthy food choices in the school lunchroom. Learning about the benefits of healthy eating in class had inspired these children to make a number of positive changes. For example, some encouraged their parents to buy more fruits and vegetables. Others were choosing healthy snacks instead of junk food. These changes in turn were having positive effects. Students cited more energy, better concentration, and weight loss as some of the benefits they had gained from healthier eating.

Students also said that the physical activity programmes started because of FIS had contributed to their enjoyment of activities and had benefited their health. They thought the school “Jump off” day was a big hit. Having the whole school involved in the same activity (“even teachers!”) was a fun way to get active. All the students were engaged in some sort of physical activity or sports team on a regular basis and stated they were now “less lazy and more active” than before the focus had started. For most, increased activity had replaced watching TV as an after-school activity, however, they did cite some TV programmes targeted to issues of body weight and health as having a positive influence on their decision to be more active.

Students discussed the recent changes that the school had made to encourage sunsmart behaviours. They reported they were now more likely to wear sunscreen, which is available in the classrooms, and that sunhats were available. Students said that their involvement in raising awareness of sunsmart through presenting sunsmart messages at the “Jump off” day contributed to their learning about how to protect themselves from the sun, and they had followed this through by engaging in more sunsmart behaviours. In addition to what they have learnt in school, the “slip, slop, slap, and wrap” ads have contributed a lot to the students’ understanding of how to be sunsmart.

Although the school has yet to incorporate smokefree messages into the school specifically as part of FIS, the students knew a lot about the harmful effects of smoking. Students said they had helped to put up “no smoking” signs around the school and had learnt about the harmful effects of cigarettes from Life Education bus sessions. From these activities, the students knew that it was dangerous to smoke and that they “didn’t want to start and have black and missing teeth”. Despite some peer pressure to try smoking, none of them had.

Connecting with parents and whānau
A core aspect of Wiri Central School’s student-centred approach is its ongoing efforts to engage family/whānau in school activities and community programmes. Through these, the school aims to enhance and support students’ learning experiences and positive outcomes by strengthening the community.

Wiri Central School has a number of mechanisms in place for connecting with the parent and whānau community, and sharing information about FIS goals. Whānau are sent newsletters on a regular basis, which inform them of various school events, including FIS-related initiatives, and the principal has organised the production of fridge magnets that promote FIS messages, which will be distributed to all families.

The school holds regular hui with parents and whānau, during which attendees discuss the topics that children are learning in school. In this context, staff have opportunities to engage with parents/whānau, invite input on FIS goals, and deliver key messages. Parents and whānau are also invited to attend and take part in activities such as the recent “Jump off” day and are encouraged to assist in school sports programmes and attend senior camps. School staff highlighted that students were a key conduit for connecting with parents and whānau around FIS goals as they shared healthy messages with their families.

These approaches are also supplemented by a number of existing activities that are designed to connect the school with its community. The school has a strong home–school partnership programme in which parents are encouraged to join the school once per term to learn skills (e.g., numeracy) to help their children to succeed in their schoolwork, and which also provide opportunity to share FIS messages with family/whānau. These programmes are run in four different languages, and there is also an after-school Samoan immersion programme that is well supported. Community education courses are run out of Te Puna and adults may choose from a number of courses such as cooking and/or computing.

Challenges
Despite a number of mechanisms for reaching out to parents/whānau, staff reported that typically, the “same handful of parents is coming out to all the different events”, and the school would like to reach out to a wider group. Staff also thought their efforts around reinforcing healthy eating messages were sometimes thwarted by the local dairy and fish and chip shop. However, for them, this underscored the importance of empowering the students and community to make healthy food choices. Although PD has been an emphasis at Wiri Central School, some staff indicated that they could use more assistance in integrating the FIS areas into the curriculum.

Sustainability and where to next?
Staff and students at Wiri Central School were committed to the continued development of approaches that aligned with FIS goals. For staff, the principles underpinning FIS fit well with their existing holistic focus on student health and wellbeing. Staff see FIS as an initiative that complements and strengthens their commitment to maintaining wellness both for the students in the school and the community that supports it.

Given the fit between the school’s strategic vision and FIS goals, the school staff are driven to see that the changes brought about are sustainable in the future. The school leaders have begun to think of ways that the free fruit might be continued over time and have considered planting fruit trees as one option. Wiri Central School has a strong emphasis on ensuring that a sense of dependence is not created in the community. Rather than taking on the responsibility of providing free fruit to children, the staff want to, by modelling healthy practices at school, empower students and parents. For Wiri staff, the key to sustainability of fruit will be through fostering a sense of self-reliance in the community.

The school also hopes to foster self-reliance and sustain healthy behaviours in all four FIS areas by providing lifelong learning opportunities to students and the wider community. For Wiri Central School, this represents a long-term commitment. As one staff member commented:

It’s an ongoing process that’s never fully in the bag… just because you’ve done it once, doesn’t mean that you’ve done it… you build layer on layer…and have [to repeat the process each time] a new group of children comes through.