Wellness on the New Frontier...moving forward with Mr. Coghill

Two years ago our Mr. Coghill took up the challenge of redefining what Physical Education would look like at Woodhaven Middle School.  Mr. Coghill, a triathlete who has competed at Iron Man Canada, is committed to the wellness of both our students and staff.  Three years ago the U of A did a study of our Grade 5 students which painted a picture of students who did not eat well and did not get enough daily activity.  I shared these results with Mr. Coghill and we discussed what we needed to do to change that wellness profile.

From that moment forward Mr. Coghill has worked diligently, and now with Mr. McLachlan, Mr. Chan, Mr. Zalasky and Mrs. Davis is moving our work from being a Physical Education class to a Wellness program.  In fact, PE is not a term  you hear at Woodhaven... now its all Wellness all the time.  We have reoriented the program from a focus on game activity to skill development for life long wellness.  This allows everybody to be a learner regardless of their talent level.

We now have a Student Wellness Action Team SWAT that is in charge of monthly wellness challenges which are tracked by every homeroom.  This month's challenge is drinking 6 glasses of water per day.  These students also involved with health snack options being offered during our morning break.

Mr. Coghill also worked closely with Ms. Neumann to encorporate Wellness and Health Education.  All our Health Days include a wellness component involving either activity or nutrition.  It is through his work that we have set guidelines regarding soft drinks, slushes and energy drinks in our building.  He has also worked with our School Council to encourage their Grab and Go free nutritious breakfast.

His work has extended to the staff who have done much to increase their personal levels of fitness.  In the spring Kids With Cancer fundraiser we were up to 15 staff members who participated in the 5 KM run.  There has been a significant change in the types of snacks available in our staff room and we now have a healthy 'Soup Club'.

Thanks Mr. Coghill...your work has found its way into  everything we do.

The New Look Woodhaven....continued

Wellness

For the past two years Woodhaven, led by Mr. James Coghill and Mrs. Keri Getz Bradshaw (hereby referred to as Ms. KGB), has been moving towards creating a school which values the health and wellness of each student and staff member.  This initiative was started as a response to a U of A study on student wellness which showed that 29% of Grade 5 students in Alberta are considered obese.  Woodhaven was part of that study.  The life long impact of this statistic is well known.  As a school we decided that we would do our best to halt this epidemic and present students with life style alternatives which could increase activity and change food choices.

This has resulted in a series initiatives.  Last year this included:

1. Grab and Go Breakfast...in conjunction with Parent Counsel, Woodhaven offers a health morning snack to any student who wishes it.  Our parents bake muffins and homemade granola and it is free for the taking along with juice and cheese strings.  Set up in the main hall in the morning, all the children pay is a smile and a thank you.  This year the program is subsidized by levying a surcharge of 5% on all fund raising and putting it towards the program.
2. Reversed Lunch Hour:  Grades 7-9 eat the first half of lunch, with 5 and 6 eating second.  This allows us to maximize the use of all our activity spaces, run intramurals all noon hour, run zumba and yoga classes, and reduce playground congestion.  All of this is done to increase lunch hour activity.
3. Healthy Snacks:Snack attack has changed what they offer for morning break so there are healthy food alternatives.  Smoothies are a hit!
4. Wellness Calendars: In an attempt to make students aware of their activity levels, they are tracking this on calendars daily.
5. Daily Physical Activity: Students have a daily PE program led by experts.  The focus is not on the big games but rather on physical skill development for life long activity.

This year we have tweaked the program slightly.  The major adjustment is in the area of what students can drink at school.  In the past we have not allowed slushes and energy drinks in the school.  The high sugar and caffeine content do not help student learning.  This year we have expanded this to include soft drinks.  The average 700ml drink contains 25g of sugar.  Again, this does not contribute to learning.  We ask your assistance in this matter by leaving these drinks out of your child's lunch.

Next...more new staff

Cheers

School Counsel: Doing Great Things For Our Kids' Health

Our Woodhaven School Counsel is amazing.  For the past four years our counsel under the direction of Mrs. Terry Mesher worked so hard to make our $250 000 playground a reality.  When it opened last September it marked the final step in Woodhaven maturing into a true Middle School.  It has changed our play and activity environments.  A recent survey of our Grade 5 students done by the University of Alberta proved this point.  The year before the playground was built 24% of our Grade 5 students felt they were active at school.  The survey was done again this year and 93% of our Grade 5's see themselves as active during their school day.

Under the leadership of Mrs. Connie Hendry our current counsel is now embarking into new areas now the playground is in place.  Connie and the rest of the counsel executive are most interested in supporting our school's Wellness Program.  They invited teachers James Coghill (Leader of the Wellness Project) and Treena Neumann (our Health Day coordinator) to their last meeting to discuss how counsel can support their work with students.  Many great ideas were kicked around and parents decided to financially support bringing in guest speakers for Health Days.

In a bold move, the parents also decided to support Healthy Living by providing our students with a nutritious 'Grab and Go' breakfast so students have the fuel in their bodies to learn in the morning.  They also decided to do so at no cost to the kids.  We tried this for the first time on Tuesday morning.  Mrs. Karen Hudson, our Volunteer Coordinator reported that she served approximately 50 students home made granola bars, muffins and apples.  Most importantly, she was impressed by the gratitude expressed by all those who picked up something to eat.

If I haven't been clear about this in the past, let me be so now.  Our parents ROCK!  Thank you so much.