The Healthy Schools Recognition Program is a self-directed, step-based program that promotes strengthening new and existing school-based health initiatives that can influence student belonging, school connectedness, and health and well-being.
The program guides schools through a 4-Step Healthy Schools Process that, when completed, can support meaningful, sustainable change and improved health-related outcomes for the school community. It also encourages meaningful collaboration to promote a holistic, whole-community approach.
The Healthy Schools Recognition Program empowers schools with flexibility and ownership by providing tools, tips, and prompts that support the development of a personalized Healthy Schools journey.
We’re celebrating the work of Healthy Schools across Canada, showing you how teams are putting the Recognition Program into action.
Two schools in Hamilton, Ontario have been working to support student and staff well-being in their school communities. Both St. David Catholic Elementary School and Sir Allan MacNab Secondary School have been working collaboratively with staff, students, and local Public Health Services to organize school initiatives and events.
Here’s what St. David’s Health Action Team told us about their Healthy Schools journey.
The Team at St. David
Our Health Action Team (HAT) takes the lead for the Healthy Schools Recognition Program at our school. This club is made up of 12-14 Grade 6 students who are actively engaged in brainstorming, prepping and leading activities. Our educators and the Child and Youth Worker are known as HAT champions, who along with the Public Health Nurse, support the HAT. We meet weekly during a lunch period. We’re fortunate to have a school administration that consistently champions and encourages our ideas and initiatives. The Principal and the Public Health Nurse are intentional about pursuing funding opportunities to address our health priorities.
Taking Action
This year, we have successfully completed two large health promotion campaigns: Kindness Week and Pink Shirt Day for anti-bullying awareness and bullying prevention, as well as smaller theme days like Walk and Roll to School Days, Homework Free Weekend, and the Great Big Crunch for nutrition.
For Pink Shirt Day, our HAT organized a read along to the book Enemy Pie for Full-Day Kindergarten, Grade 1, and Grade 2, including a follow up activity about kindness.
Grades 3-8 were invited to an assembly where the HAT presented a PowerPoint about bullying awareness and prevention. Upon return to class, students engaged in a discussion about different bullying scenarios and how to handle them.
Divisionally appropriate videos of the origin of Pink Shirt Day were sent to classroom teachers, who were also encouraged to tour their students around the school to see the many “Did you Know” posters about bullying created by the HAT.
Each classroom also completed a “kindness bouquet”; students cut and coloured one of several available flowers and wrote a message of kindness on the flower which was then attached to a bouquet using straws. These kindness bouquets were placed on the classroom doors and also serve to remind us that spring is around the corner!
Consistency is Key
We stress with our students at the start of the year that it is important to attend meetings consistently and we explain that regular attendance is key to the success of the process and activities. We try to encourage and motivate HAT members by bringing small incentives periodically such as fun pens, seasonal pencils and stress balls.
We also try to take into account in our planning that there will be days when there will be competing priorities such as clubs, field trips, and school sporting events/practices that will conflict with our meetings and that there will be times (like the first nice days of spring) where they just want to be outside at lunch. We also provide students with a break from meetings after the completion of a large health promotion campaign.
One thing we appreciate is that this year, there are no deadlines! In the past, deadlines were around the time of Mental Health Week in May and this became challenging in both trying to plan activities and also complete the program.
Making an Impact
In the many years that we have been participating in [the former] Healthy Schools Certification program and now in the Healthy Schools Recognition Program, we have noted that the physical environment of the school is now more engaging.
We have permanent large Pink Shirts with student pledges that hang from our school cafetorium. In recognition of the importance of physical and mental well-being, this open space was named “The Wellness Hub” where classrooms can come to play games and take brain breaks. The Child and Youth Worker has created bulletin boards that provide messaging about mental health and social-emotional themes and also decorates the stairwells and hallways with artwork that classrooms have done about positive affirmations and gratitude statements.
Celebrating Success
The students enjoy seeing social media posts of the events we’ve organized, starring themselves, which they are then able to share with their families. They also receive applause and are thanked at any assembly or classroom activity that we host as well as on the morning announcements from our school administration. The HAT champions and Public Health Nurse always thank the team in the debrief meetings that we complete post-event. Our large celebration comes in June with a pizza party, ice cream sundaes, and personal Certificates of Appreciation for each student.
Sir Allan MacNab
The team at Sir Allan MacNab Secondary School has also been busy organizing a variety of school events, planning initiatives that have supported mental, social, and physical wellness. The school was highly engaged in the Healthy Schools Certification and continues to build on its successes in the Healthy Schools Recognition Program.
Spreading Kindness
During Kindness Week for both the 2024-25 and 2025-26 school years, we gave out snacks and mental health stickers and had a draw. Last year, we made a mural using hands with kindness messages to promote anti-bullying.
We also organized a hot chocolate event around exam time both years called Coco & Cram. Students created tips and questions to help with exam stress. We put them on a big Spin to Win wheel and also added the tips onto bookmarks that were given to students over their lunch period.
Collaboration and Support
Last year, a student received a grant which supported them as they organized a cannabis education event with speakers and games. We also ran a play day last year to encourage play and outdoor activity with the help of a ParticipACTION Community Challenge grant. We have applied for the same grant again this year in hopes of running a similar event.
For International Polar Bear Day last year, we collaborated with our EcoSchools team, who support environmental learning and climate action. Together we organized a Polar Bear Walk to raise awareness about the effects of climate change on Arctic wildlife.
Do you have a Healthy Schools initiative you want to share with us? You could be our next featured school! Tag us on social media (@opheacanada) or contact us directly at [email protected] to share your school’s journey.
