Health and Wellness Policy

Board Approval May 2006

St. Matthew School will facilitate and promote quality USDA Child Nutrition Programs targeting the education, health and well being of our school community.

The 6 targeted areas include:

·        Quality School Meals

·        Other Healthy Food Options

·        Nutrition and Physical Activity

·        Pleasant Eating Experiences

·        Nutrition Education

·        Marketing

Quality School Meals

St. Matthew School Food Authority will develop our nutritional analysis of school lunch and breakfast programs to meet and exceed the national standards. We will work to lower the sodium, fat and sugar percentages and raise the fiber standards in our meals.

Other Healthy Food Options

St. Matthew School will form a committee to develop a snack policy using all resources available to set standards benefiting our children’s health. This committee will establish guidelines to regulate the amount of sugar, fat and sodium, as well as, portion sizes for snacks served within the school day and after school activities.

Nutrition and Physical Activity

St. Matthew School will devote 30 minutes weekly to nutrition education and 2 x 30 minutes weekly for kindergarten, 2 x 45 minutes weekly for grades 1 – 5 of physical activity through the Harcourt Brace curriculum “Health and Fitness 2006”.

Pleasant Eating Experiences

St. Matthew School will have recess for elementary grades before lunch beginning in the fall of 2006 so that children will come to lunch less distracted and ready to eat. The cafeteria area will be kept clean and enjoyable allowing students adequate time to eat.

Nutrition Education

St. Matthew School will provide a health education curriculum with standards and guidelines including nutrition and physical education through Harcourt Brace “Health and Fitness” curriculum.

Nutritional information for families will be featured monthly in articles appearing in the parent newsletter.

Marketing

St. Matthew School will provide a variety of information to spread the word to the community about our healthy school nutrition education. The school has a three year commitment to host a health and wellness fair beginning in the fall of 2006.

In the 2006-2007 school year we will do the following:

1.      The school will implement the Wellness and Fitness curriculum by Harcourt Brace in the fall of 2006.

2.      Featured nutritional articles will appear in the monthly parent newsletter.

3.      St. Matthew School will host a fall wellness/health fair.

4.      Establish snack guidelines.

5.      Annual review of the program by the School Improvement Advisory Committee (S.I.A.C.)

Guidelines for Snacks during the School Day

The Reauthorization of the USDA Child Nutrition Programs by Congress in 2004 requires all schools to have a plan for addressing the health and wellness issue. Our plan is to promote a healthy lifestyle whereby more students:

Eat breakfast regularly
Try new foods
Read food labels to make the best nutritional choices
Be aware of proper serving sizes
Limit sweets
Drink more milk
Increase daily activity

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Snack Guidelines

Snack List

Crackers List

Cereal List

Frozen Novelties List

Fruits and Vegetables List

Pretzels List

“Having Fun---Living Well For Life!”

The Child Nutrition Program Reauthorization Act was passed by Congress and includes a number of changes to be implemented into every school district’s policy by the first day of school beginning after June 30, 2006.

This act requires the creation of a Local Wellness Policy to be in place for all schools by June 2006. The Archdiocese of Dubuque has given each local school the groundwork necessary to develop each school’s individual policy.

In order to meet these new guidelines, St. Matthew’s School Improvement Advisory Committee (SIAC) has been working on establishing a policy.

The committee members are:

Joe Wolf Jane Fischer

Amy Tursi Susan Donohoe

Jody Havertape Sue Johnson

Beth Steinfadt Joy St. Andrews

Jane Vaughn Miranda Niemi

This goal is to meet and exceed the requirements of new state regulations for food made available to children in our school. We share in the community’s concern about nutrition, unhealthy eating habits, and childhood obesity. While our school is not totally responsible for what our children eat, we can do our part to provide them with the knowledge used in making wise choices that will point them in a much healthier direction to benefit them throughout their lives.

We have already begun to involve the students in these changes. In the Fall of 2005 we introduced Recess before Lunch and implemented a lower sugar, salt and fat menu for the lunch program. The Fall of 2006 will point to the foods brought into school, whether it is for snacks, parties or even ideas for lunches brought from home. We will be considering the nutritional quality and passing along these ideas to you. The committee is continuing to work hard believing these changes, not always easy, will benefit all children. A very successful Health and Wellness fair kicked off the school year. Over 30 vendors from the area provide information for all ages.

We believe in the new Jaguar motto:

” Having Fun--- Living Well For Life!”