Healthy Schools

A healthy school is a place where students have many opportunities to foster their healthy physical, mental, social and intellectual development. Healthy schools work with partners from the health and education sectors, and with those from the broader community, to support students to develop healthy habits that will last a lifetime.

Many schools across B.C. continue to develop innovative ways to support the health of their students, staff and community. Schools are creating walking school buses, connecting students with nature and community, building school-community food gardens, developing safe and caring school policies and practices, and offering healthy fundraising events.

Actions

We partner with many provincial and national organizations to inform and enable students, teachers and parents to create healthier school communities.

Healthy Schools BC

Healthy Schools BC supports health, education, students and community partners to  create healthier schools. Meaningful student engagement, co-ordination of existing school-based healthy living programs, and new tools and resources work to support improvements in students’ health and learning. The program is a partnership between the ministries of Health and Education, the Directorate of Agencies for School Health BC (DASH BC), health authorities, education partners and others.

• Healthy Schools BC

BC School Fruit and Vegetable Nutritional Program

Provides fresh, B.C. grown fruits and vegetables to students in over 1,400 public and First Nations schools.

• BC School Fruit and Vegetable Nutritional Program

Daily Physical Activity

All students from K to 12 are required to participate in regular physical activities that help develop endurance, strength and flexibility.

• Daily Physical Activity

Farm to School Program

This school-based program connects schools (K-12) and local farms, with a goal to ensure children have access to fresh, local, nutritious, safe and culturally appropriate foods while at school. Farm to School programs aim to improve student nutrition while providing educational opportunities about food and the local food system.

• Farm to School Program

Guidelines for Food and Beverage Sales in B.C. Schools

Define the nutrition standard that schools are required to apply to all food and beverages sold to students.

• Guidelines for Food and Beverage Sales in B.C. Schools

Tobacco-Free Schools

All public and private Kindergarten to Grade 12 schools in B.C. are tobacco-free under the Tobacco Control Act.

Pan-Canadian Joint Consortium for School Health

B.C. participates in this partnership, which builds and leverages expertise and capacity in the education and health sectors to affect an integrated approach to the optimal learning and health of children and youth.

• Pan-Canadian Joint Consortium for School Health

Learn More

Healthy schools promote and support healthy choices in a variety of ways, through education, policies, community partnerships and the school environment. Here are some healthy links:

An Ounce of Prevention Revisited

This report provides a review of health promotion and selected outcomes for children and youth in B.C. schools.

• An Ounce of Prevention Revisited: Provincial Health Officer's Annual Report 2006 (PDF, 3.2MB)

BC Adolescent Health Survey

The BC Adolescent Health Survey gathers information from B.C. students in grades 7 to 12 about their health, and risk and protective factors in their lives. The survey is conducted by the McCreary Centre Society in collaboration with the provincial government and public health system, and with the co-operation of B.C.’s school districts. In 2013, 56 of the 59 school districts participated, with 29,000 students completing the survey.

• BC Adolescent Health Survey