BCRPA Report: Addressing the after-school hours - Middle ...

14 | www.bcrpa.bc.ca
BC RECREATION AND PARKS ASSOCIATION
BCRPA Report |
3. School experiences
4. Physical health and well-being
5. Constructive use of time during the after school hours.
(Schonert-Reichl, Hertzman & Hymel, 2010)
The MDI asks specifically about the after-school hours, and what
children do in that time, including sport, lessons, and crafts. It
inquires as to how often they participate in these structured
activities and also asks about unstructured activities and their
respective frequency. The MDI asks what children wish to be
doing after-school, where they wish that activity to be, and what
barriers they face in doing their desired after-school activity.
The MDI was conducted with 3,029 Grade 4 students in
Vancouver, with 72 out of 82 schools participating. The MDI
data will be linked with other student information (e.g. school
achievement) and will be represented in a series of maps
depicting the information throughout Vancouver.
The MDI is one of the first of its kind in Canada via a Community-
School Board – University partnership. It is supported by the
Vancouver School Board, the Human Early Learning Partnership,
the Faculty of Education at the University of British Columbia and
the United Way of the Lower Mainland.
Results of the MDI will be released in August or September,
2010 to school administrators and educators, program planners,
community members, researchers and parents.
Action Schools! BC
Action Schools! BC is a best practices model designed to assist
schools in creating individualized action plans to promote
healthy living.
Action Schools! BC supports a framework for action in six Action
Zones to create a balanced portfolio of activities that promote
healthy living within elementary schools. These six Action Zones
are:
• School environment
• Scheduled physical education
• Classroom action
• Family and community
• Extra-curricular
• School spirit
(Action Schools! BC, `Framework for Action``, 2010)
All schools that register as an Action School receive support and
resources including:
• Workshops for staff and secondary school students around
physical activity and the six Action Zones and healthy eating,
• Resources including planning guides for schools and resource
inventories,
• Teacher physical activity / physical education resources,
• Teacher healthy eating resources, and
• Information sheets about physical activity and healthy eating.
(Action Schools! BC, “Support and Resources”, 2010)
Action Schools! BC is part of ActNow BC, a provincial government
initiative that seeks to increase the health of British Columbians.
As of March 31, 2010, there were 1440 target schools registered
with Action Schools! BC.
Of specific interest to the after-school hours are the programs
identified in the Action Pages! compiled each year to highlight
promising practices throughout Canada and BC. These
promising practices may not be after-school programs but may
present models or resources for engaging school-aged children
in physical activity. Some programs may be adaptable to an
after-school setting. Action Schools! BC could also be seen as a
model of service delivery that could be applied in an after-school
setting.