Student Wellbeing

HEALTHY BODY, HEALTHY MIND

At Greenhills, student wellbeing is a driver of what we do in the classrooms. We consider student wellbeing with our planning and also have a dedicated session of wellbeing every week. 

We know that there are many different factors that affect a student's wellbeing. One of these is what we put into our body. We know that fuelling children with the appropriate foods helps support their growth and development. But there is a growing body of research showing that what children eat can affect not only their physical health but also their mood, mental health and learning.

This week and next week, students in Prep to Year 4 have been participating in Life Education incursions. The topics are all focused on students looking after themselves and their bodies, where they learn in a fun and interactive way. Nutrition and looking after your physical health is a major part of the Life Education sessions.

Eating a healthy and nutritious diet can improve our mental health, enhance our cognitive skills (by increasing our concentration and memory) and therefore improve our academic skills.

Children should be eating plenty of nutritious, minimally processed foods from the five food groups:

fruit

vegetables and legumes/beans

grains (cereal foods)

lean meat and poultry, fish, eggs, tofu, nuts and seeds, and legumes/beans

milk, yoghurt, cheese and/or their alternatives.

Consuming too many nutritionally-poor foods and drinks that are high in added fats, sugars and salt, such as lollies, chips and fried foods has been connected to emotional and behavioural problems in children and adolescents.

Primary school is a key age to build lifelong healthy habits, which is why discussing and supporting your child at home is so important. At school we have brain/food breaks, where we encourage our students to have a piece of fruit or vegetables, our staff teach and model positive health choices, students have access to their water bottle in the classroom and we have healthy options in our canteen. We also base inquiry units, where we plant fruits and vegetables and build our connections with what we eat.

The connection between a healthy body and healthy mind is something that we all must work together to teach and grow in our students at Greenhills.

Janine Hough - janine.hough@education.vic.gov.au

Brad Ryan - bradley.ryan @educaiton.vic.gov.auJanine and Brad.