What happens in a Healthy Spines Program?
Steps in the program
Once schools are contacted and agree to take part, there are several steps to the program. These are all coordinated by the Healthy Spines Team Members with support from school staff on specific activities:
1. Establish the program in the school
- Meet the Principal and the teachers of two (or more) classes in Year 3, 4 or 5
- Set up a meeting with the school community with the support of school staff
- Provide information about the program to parents of involved students and get consent for their child to participate
- Ask staff and students to fill in short surveys (10-15 minutes) for the evaluation
2. Doing the groundwork for the program
- Plan with the teachers how to work together and make sure everyone is prepared for the program
- Run the school community meeting in a way that best suits the school so people know more about the program and why the school is taking part
- If wanted, run a special session with the parents of involved students on the content of the program
3. Conduct the program
- Visit each involved class on three occasions, about one or two weeks apart
- At each visit, run a 75 minute session that has 5-6 different and fun activities
- Talk with the teachers and Principals about how the program is going
- Encourage the teachers to do the follow-up activities between visits so students and the school gain the full benefit of the program
- Encourage the teachers and students to share what they learnt with the entire school through school assembly performances or newsletter items
- Decide if the teachers want to do an optional 4th visit a few weeks later to find out what the students have been doing with their new knowledge and skills
4. Conduct the evaluation
- A few weeks after the program is finished, ask staff and students to fill in another short survey (10-15 minutes)
- Mail out short surveys to parents (10 minutes)
- Do an interview with the school staff to get more detail about their opinions on what the program was like and what difference it has made to students and the school
5. Provide feedback to the school
- Return to give out certificates of participation for students, teachers and the school
- When it becomes available, provide a short user-friendly version of the evaluation report, a copy of the full report and the link to the full report on this website
It is always up to schools what they want to do with the information and ideas that comes out of their students' work in Healthy Spines. We encourage them to discuss it
among the staff, with the Parents and Friends Association and the School Council so they can take action to improve the spinal health safety of the school environment.
Key messages in Healthy Spines
There are six key messages that we focus on with the children during the Healthy Spines program. They are:
- What makes your body work?
- Where do these things live in the body?
- Why do you need to take care of your spine?
- What happens when you don't take care of your spine?
- What do you need to do to take care of your spine?
- What does the school need to do to take care of children's spines?
Children have opportunities to discuss these areas and learn information that they can use to make positive personal choices.
They also decide how the school is supporting them in looking after spinal health and what else could happen. They share their
ideas with the Principal and the Parents and Friends Association, sometimes with the whole school, to help spread the message that
it is important to look after spinal health. They encourage school community members to take positive action at a personal and school
level that supports good spinal health. This includes reviewing and strengthening policies related to spinal health and making changes
in the school environment.
Examples of what schools have done are found in the evaluation reports - see Research
on Healthy Spines for more information.