Principals

Principals have a very important role to play in promoting health and wellbeing to students. They can do this through the curriculum and the positive experiences they provide. WASCA has a number of resources to support Principals, teachers and other school staff.

Kindy orientations

A kindy orientation session is a fantastic way to introduce new parents to the Healthy Food and Drink policy and increase their knowledge about packing a healthy lunchbox. In the Perth metropolitan area a representative from WASCA will join the pre-organised session at your school and provide a brief 15 minute overview, including:

  • HFD policy and traffic light system of categorising foods
  • The ABCD lunchbox
  • We touch on allergy and food safety
  • Each family will be given a Packed with Goodness resource, specifically designed to help parents provide healthy food for their children
  • Each teacher will be given a resource pack with posters and a Healthy School Healthy Student teacher guide.

WASCA works in partnership with other health professional in regional and remote WA, many of whom are available to deliver kindy orientation sessions on WASCA’s behalf. There is currently no cost for kindy sessions. To book a session please email amanda.ferguson2@education.wa.edu.au.

The ABCD of packing healthy lunchboxes

Choosing items from each of the five food groups will give children all the nutrition they need to play and to learn for the whole school day. Download the ABCD flyer (A4) or ABCD poster (A3) to help make this task a little easier.

The ABCD flyer has recently been translated for those families where English as an additional language or dialect (EALD/D), see a full list below.

Arabic    Burmese    Dari    Dinka    Farsi    Hindi    Indonesian    Japanese   Karen

Korean    Simplified Chinese    Swahili    Tagalog    Thai    Tigrinya    Vietnamese

For additional resources for EALD/D families see the Department of Education’s  EALD/D page .

Supporting healthy food and drink choices

Making healthy drink choices is easy with this great Drinks fact sheet for teachers. See some great suggestions for classroom activities and tips on how to encourage the best choices for students.

Food and drinks provided to students when on camps or excursions must comply with the Department of Education’s Healthy Food and Drink policy. Both of these activities are the perfect platform to role model healthy choices and provide the opportunity to encourage healthy choices. For more information see the two fact sheets:

Principals Survey

Principals of all public schools, including Independent Public Schools, are required to implement the Department of Education’s Healthy Food and Drink (HFD) policy. The policy applies to all school settings including canteens/food services, classroom rewards, classroom cooking activities, school camps and excursions.

Each year the Department of Education sends a short survey comprised of six questions to Principals about the HFD policy. This forms part of each schools mandatory reporting to the Department.

The feedback gathered from this survey is an important element of the evaluation of the Healthy Food and Drink Project and helps to guide ongoing WASCA services to all schools.

2019 Survey

The 2019 Principals’ survey was completed by 450 schools, giving a good representation of compliance with the Department of Education’s Healthy Food and Drink policy. With 95% reporting that their canteen offers a majority (green) healthy foods it is clear schools are embracing a healthy school environment. See the 2019 Healthy Food and Drink Principals’ survey summary for all the key findings.

2018 Survey

See the infographic below for a snapshot or for a comprehensive overview of the key findings from the 2018 survey see the Principals Survey summary document.

2017 Survey

See the infographic for a snapshot or for a comprehensive overview of the key findings from the 2017 survey see the Principals Survey summary document.

Infographic – Healthy Food and Drink compliance

The Department of Education’s Healthy Food and Drink policy promotes healthy eating in schools. The policy is mandatory for all public schools (including Independent Public Schools). This infographic can be printed to A3, ideal for displaying.

We have also developed a range of compliance checklists with a specific Principal checklist that covers everything you need to know about complying with the policy.

Alcohol related harm priorities

The Public Health Advocacy Institute of WA have recently released a document that outlines evidence-informed and consensus-based priorities for the prevention of alcohol-related harm through Western Australian schools and broader communities. The priorities are intended to be used by health professionals, school staff, and those working within and with the school communities to help guide action to prevent alcohol-related harm among young people. See the full Priorities for action to prevent alcohol related harm through school communities document for more information.

Western Australian School Canteen Association (Inc.)
PO Box 3484, East Perth WA 6892 | Telephone: 08 9264 4999 | Email: wasca@education.wa.edu.au