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APPLE Schools makes the healthy choice the easy choice
Krish Shah, APPLE school alumni from Timberlea School in Fort McMurray, 2011-2015
The project works with vulnerable schools to integrate healthy initiatives into the school day in a way that avoids giving already busy teachers more work.
APPLE Schools supports each community in developing a unique action plan that outlines its path toward a sustainable and healthy community, and they help to implement it.
The project is evidence based. Working with the School of Public Health, University of Alberta, we know that the project benefits all students, regardless of socioeconomic background. Students who attend APPLE schools take ownership of their own health and demonstrate several benefits:
- 35% increase in physical activity, in and out of school
- 2-3 times more steps taken per day
- Consume 10% more fruits and vegetables per day
- Have a 40% less chance of becoming obese than students in comparison schools
- Show an improved quality of life, leadership abilities, productivity, and learning
Schools develop an action plan that outlines its community’s unique health goals, and a roadmap on how to get there. The plans include activities led by students and are designed to make healthy living fun and engaging. Examples include planting class gardens, physical activity programs, mindfulness activities, student leadership training, healthy snack programs, resiliency training, Indigenous games, and more.
The approach that APPLE Schools uses for its implementation model is the comprehensive school health approach, an internationally recognized framework for supporting improvements in students' educational outcomes while addressing while addressing school health in a planned, integrated and holistic way.