JUNIOR SCHOOL INFORMATION HANDBOOK

Crunch and Sip and Celebrations

Crunch and Sip - Morning Tea and Lunch 

Healthy food and water are an essential requirement for student wellbeing, and meal times are important social and educational experiences. All students in the Junior School from Pre-Primary to Year 6 are required to pack daily a separate container of raw vegetables or fruit and a drink bottle of water to consume during their class’s ‘Crunch and Sip’ break each day. The College supports this Cancer Council of Western Australia health initiative to promote eating enough vegetables and fruit for healthy development and as part of our academic and wellbeing program across the College. Our students are encouraged to have regular breaks to drink water throughout the day to aid their academic focus and concentration.

 

Morning Tea

Students in Pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten are requested to bring a piece of fruit, cheese, carrot or other raw vegetables each day to share for morning tea. This will be eaten along with a drink of water from their water bottles.

 

Pre-Primary – Year 6 students bring a packed morning tea and their water bottle.

 

Lunch

All children are required to bring a packed lunch to school each day. For Pre-Primary – Year 6 students, there is a lunch menu available from the Canteen, should families wish to make use of this facility. Children from Year 3 are permitted to buy extra items from the Canteen at lunchtime. In the interests of good physical health and dental care, please do not provide sweet biscuits, lollies or chocolate.

 

Children are supervised by teachers when they are eating, and teachers are on duty during recess and lunchtime each day.

 

All children are required to have a named drink bottle of water to be kept in the classroom with them so they have access to water at all times.

 

In line with our Waste Wise Policy, children are requested to bring food in recyclable containers with minimum wrappers to reduce litter.

Crunch and Sip Ideas

Here are some suggested ideas to pack for Crunch and Sip:

  • A handful of grapes.
  • Chopped apple (held together with an elastic band to avoid it going brown).
  • Orange wedges.
  • Kiwifruit peeled and chopped.
  • A few strawberries with the tops removed.
  • Watermelon chunks, rockmelon balls or honeydew melon wedges.
  • Blueberries.
  • Chopped pear with a squeeze of lemon juice over it.
  • Lady finger bananas.
  • Cucumber slices.
  • Cherry tomatoes.
  • Capsicum or zucchini strips.
  • Carrot or celery sticks.
  • Blanched broccoli or cauliflower.

As these have high sugar content, please do not include:

  • Dried fruit.
  • Fruit leathers.
  • Muesli bars.
  • Fruit juice.
  • Canned fruit or fruit snack packs.

Lunchbox Ideas

Do not overfill your child’s lunchbox! We strongly support awareness of the environment and sustainability, so accordingly please send your child’s drinks in reuseable drink bottles, not tetra packs, and place foods in reuseable containers, not cling-wrap or pre-packaged.

 

Include a variety of healthy food with plenty of fresh fruit, salad vegetables and bread or cracker biscuits, rice or noodles, protein food such as meats, fish, dairy products, baked beans or boiled eggs.

 

Dairy foods, meat and eggs need to be kept cold. Put a frozen drink bottle in with the lunch box or use a cooler bag. It is not possible to re-heat food at school.

 

Other Lunchbox Ideas

  • Slice of fruit loaf/raisin bread.
  • Pancake or pikelet (add mashed bananas to the mixture for a change).
  • Fruit, date, pumpkin or plain scone.
  • Small pita bread (spread thinly with cheese spread, grated carrot, sprouts and rolled up to serve).
  • Small handful of rice crackers or baked wheat pretzels.
  • Wholemeal crackers with a slice of low-fat cheese.
  • Rice cakes with a thin scrape of reduced-fat cream cheese and Vegemite
  • Cup of popcorn
  • Slice of low-fat cheese with a bundle of carrot and celery sticks.
  • Tub of low-fat fruit yoghurt (freeze the night before in warmer months)
  • Small handful of dried fruit (for over 5 year olds only).
  • Small container of assorted salads (eg Tabouli, pasta, rice).
  • Salad box with a hard-boiled egg, cherry tomatoes and a bread roll.
  • Snow peas, feta, pitted olives.
  • Container of jelly and fruit.
  • Homemade pizza.
  • Vegetarian quiche or frittata.
  • Noodles with chicken and snow peas.
  • Kibbeh falafel.
  • Rissoles, meatballs or kebabs.
  • Low-fat cheese cubes or sticks.
  • Steamed dim sims – still delicious cold.
  • Sushi rice roll with avocado, carrot and tuna.
  • Chicken drumstick.

For other lunch box ideas, please visit:

http://www.det.wa.edu.au/healthyfoodanddrink/detcms/navigation/information-for-parents/

Celebrations

Birthdays

Birthdays are very important, so when it is your child’s birthday you are invited to bring in a small treat to be shared with their class at the end of the day. We ask that large cakes are pre-cut to enable easy distribution. Please contact your child’s teacher for the numbers of students in the class. We will celebrate your child’s birthday with their class. Birthday invitations are not to be handed out at school unless the WHOLE class is invited. We ask for the same courtesy to be extended when Christmas cards are distributed.

 

Easter and Christmas Lollies/Chocolates

In keeping with our promotion of health and wellbeing, and of environmental responsibility by reducing litter, we discourage students from bringing lollies/chocolates to share with their peers.

 

We thank you for your support in this matter.