Our Healthy Lifestyles Week
Next week we celebrate our Healthy Lifestyle Week: ‘Mind & Body’ in the PreSchool and Elementary. As with all our celebrations we plan to highlight and celebrate its importance with the aim being that we continue to place this at the centre of thoughts long beyond the end of our week’s celebrations.
Our array of activities will offer children (and parents) the opportunity to consider, through active experiences, the importance of maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Life-lessons such as discussing the benefits of nutritious eating with a teacher at lunch-time, or experiencing the advantages of regular and fun exercise during our morning limbers (Tuesday to Friday), our Fit-kids event on Monday afternoon or our Active Families event on Friday afternoon will all assist in laying the foundation for good health throughout each child’s life.
As a ‘slightly’ competitive person myself, I am particularly looking forward to our healthy points initiative throughout the week which encourages children to not only be active in mind and body but also to get their family involved (as this will result in double points). This is a healthy inter-grade competition from which children in Grade 4 and 5 will use the points to create graphs, to represent the evolving scores, for display on our school screens throughout the week.
We also benefit from the wonderful resource that is our school International Cafe. Sarah, Ann, Ian and their dedicated staff know the children so well and assist intrinsically in modelling our school values during meal times. As a staff member, who regularly joins the children for lunch, I can reflect so positively upon the standard of the food the children receive and more importantly the experience they gain during this time as they are encouraged to be ‘fine diners’.
On the note of ‘fine dining’ you will no doubt hear, next week, from your child of the incentive for them to ‘dine finely’. Teachers and kitchen staff will be looking closely for good manners, awareness of others, good food choices and general positive dining etiquette. At the end of the week two children from each grade will be awarded a fine dining experience with Mr Little (our Head of School) and Mr Kajiwara (our Head of Elementary). Grades K-2 and 3-5 children will experience this on Monday 9th October at 12.10pm and 12.40pm respectively whilst the PreSchool will have their fine dining experience on Tuesday 10th at 12.20pm.
We hope that the week will inspire children to make positive changes in their daily routines, such as choosing healthier foods and being more physically active. Teaching children, both at school and at home about the importance of a healthy lifestyle, prevents future health problems.
Our Healthy Lifestyle week isn't just about physical health; it also includes emotional and social well-being. Activities like our Great Junior Bake off, our numerous mindfulness activities and our Get up and Move activities all assist children with their concentration, teamwork, and positive social interactions, which are all essential for mental health. A big thank you to children, parents and Graham Brace (Grade 5) in particular for compiling the great video of how active our children already are at ISA! I really look forward to the premiere of this video at assembly on Monday morning (8.30am). Please join us if you can.
Our Active Families’ session on Friday 6th October invites families to join their child’s class for an afternoon of fun physical activity. By witnessing the strong bond between home and school children learn more meaningfully about healthy habits and often utilise that knowledge at home, to make healthier choices together. Please meet us in the large gym on Friday at 1:10pm for the start of the afternoon event. We are also offering a parent only swimming session from 11:30am-12:30pm on Friday for you to relax and limber up ready for the afternoon activities! Please take advantage of this if you can.
Most rewarding of all for me is how our Healthy Lifestyles Week contributes to our positive and supportive school culture where health and well-being are valued. Sharing with parents and students healthy experiences that foster a sense of community and shared responsibility for our health brings a great sense of reward.
Next week is therefore so important because it not only assists with student knowledge and understanding of healthy lifestyles but it also promotes positive change, healthy futures, and contributes to the overall well-being of our students and our community.
A big thank you to all the children, parents and staff who have and who will contribute. An especially big thank you to Claire McMahon, Debbie Cooper, Clare Hodder and Catherine Fielding for all their hard work in pulling all these wonderful events together, we really so appreciate you.
I therefore welcome our school community to our various fun activities next week and especially look forward to playing an active role in maintaining its key messages throughout the year.
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