Canmore’s Elizabeth Rummel School has been chosen as one of more than a dozen schools in the province to receive $250,000 in provincial funding this year to develop its own nutritional program.
Officials with Canadian Rockies Public Schools said Wednesday (Nov. 16) the local program has been designed to provide students at the elementary school with a daily morning “mini-meal” before recess and one lunch a week.
Premier Rachel Notley and Minister of Education David Eggen announced the nutrition program on Monday (Nov. 14) as part of the province’s Future Ready initiative.
Future Ready is a government program described as “focused on ensuring that every Albertan has the skills they need to succeed in a changing economy.”
In addition to the nutrition pilot program, the government has focused on curriculum review, post-secondary education, summer temporary employment programs and apprentice training, for example.
Notley said her government’s plan is to go beyond the school to support children with what they need to learn and ensure students are happy and healthy.
“We know that good jobs begin with a good education,” said the premier. “Access to a daily nutritious meal can really help children’s grades and prepare them for a healthy and successful future. That’s why we are proud to introduce a targeted school nutrition program.”
At ERS, the program created locally has focused on providing a daily breakfast snack program as well as a once-a-week lunch and milk program for all 330 students that attend the kindergarten to Grade 3 school.
Officials with CRPS were excited to be part of the nutrition pilot program, with the school board discussing the program at a number of public meetings prior to the official provincial announcement this week.
Assistant superintendent Violet Parsons-Pack said the nutritional program fits well within the district’s Inspiring Healthy Hearts and Minds strategy.
“This is about meeting the needs of the whole child within a caring educational system and one of those needs children have is good nutrition,” she said. “We are very fortunate in the Bow Valley, we have a lot of very active children that are for the most part engaging in good nutrition anyway.”
Parsons-Pack said the ERS program has been designed to target the mid-morning snack time for students before recess. She said that is the time of day young students typically have a snack between breakfast in the morning before school and lunchtime.
“Little children have little bellies,” she said. “Having frequent nutritional meals is good for small children and helps keep them active. This will take some pressure off parents to provide that snack at that time of day.”
The mini-meal, as she called it, will contain all food groups and follow the guidelines for nutrition provided by the province for youth and children.
Parents of students at ERS will be able to opt in or out of the nutritional program based on their needs or preferences, she said. The once-a-week lunch also planned, she said, is dependent on how much uptake there is from students and the cost.
Parsons-Pack said the locally developed program is still evolving for ERS and parents can expect more details of what is available for students as options in the near future.
Elizabeth Rummel does not have facilities to take on the scale of a nutritional program for its 330 students, though, and Parsons-Pack said for this year, CRPS plans on outsourcing the food program. As it evolves into the future, and more funding is available, there would be more time to consider a capital project to upgrade kitchen facilities at the school.
“What we are doing this year probably won’t be the same as next year,” she acknowledged.
A nutrition pilot program was an election promise made by Notley, and she noted it was also a key part of her platform when she ran for leader of the provincial NDP party.
“This year we will watch how the program rolls out and we will learn from it and we will listen to our partners,” she said. “More importantly, we will keep our students’ wellbeing in front of mind as we work to prepare them for success.”
Eggen meanwhile, acknowledged the challenge students that are hungry have in learning and that research has shown a healthy and nutritious diet provides more energy and focus.
“We know education is a cornerstone of a healthy Alberta economy and we know kids cannot focus in class if they are hungry. We also know there are difficult economic times in our province and there is a strain on household incomes and some families need a helping hand.”
ERS is one of 14 schools chosen to take part in the pilot program and each school received $250,000 for the nutrition program during the 2016-17 school year. Notley promised the program would expand into the future with $10 million next year and more than $20 million the year after that.
“This year we are looking at the different models utilized by school boards and coming up with best practices,” said the premier.
Nutritional programs created by each school division as part of the pilot must demonstrate how it adheres to the Alberta Nutrition Guidelines for Children and Youth and must include a nutritional education component.
Eggen said by empowering school boards to develop programs that meet their school’s needs, he is happy to see partnerships forming and innovation and creativity coming to the table.
“It is not just a way by which we serve food in our schools,” he said. “But it is a way to connect schools to our communities and build a local economy.”
