'Shape Up Week' at St Joseph School

'Shape Up Europe' is a three-year project targeting the causes of childhood obesity, an increasingly serious problem in Europe that can result in serious health problems in adulthood. Seven schools in Malta, including St Joseph School, Blata l-Bajda, have this academic year teamed up with 26 cities from 25 EU member states, with Malta being the only country participating on a national level.

The project encourages the widest possible spectrum of participation, with the children themselves on one hand and the policy makers on the other.

The local schools' participation is a pilot project being co-ordinated by the Education Department in conjunction with the Health Promotion Department.

Each school was left free to choose different ways in which to do this.

The aim is that all schools in Malta will eventually take up the idea of promoting healthy eating and increasing physical activity among all stakeholders, that is, students, teachers and parents.

At St Joseph School, since a lot of awareness about healthy food and eating habits already exists among the students, we decided that the target for this year should be to increase their physical activity and to get parents more involved in their children's eating habits.

What is special about this project is that the students should be consulted and be allowed to choose ways in which changes are implemented.

After meetings with students and parents to get their ideas about the best ways to achieve these aims, the school organised different activities involving movement. The PTA also took this up and organised a weekend hike along the Victoria lines, after school aerobic lessons for teachers.

'Shape Up Week' was held between April 26 and May 4 with the motto "Get active - stay active", to round up the activities for this academic year.

We started the week by having a Sports Jamboree for all junior and senior school students to which parents were invited.

On the following days we gave our students a healthy breakfast at school, a different fruit each day during break, and fruit smoothies were prepared by teachers for the girls. Cereal bars (the healthy variety) and water were given to the girls before they left school for various outings involving physical activity, including orienteering, aqua-toning, and gym activities. Speakers from the Home Economics Department also addressed the girls about ways to keep healthy.

The Curtain Raiser Theatre Troupe staged educational plays for the younger students.

Philip Bonello and Pierre Gatt from the Education Division were present for some of these activities.

On the final day, parents were again invited to join us for a seminar addressed by nutritionist Claire Spiteri and sports psychologist Adele Muscat, following which workshops were organised for the parents to discuss ways in which what had been started in school could be carried on at home in the children's and the whole family's best interest.

After the seminar, teachers and students joined the parents for aerobics sessions conducted by Sarca Ross and Kristina Schranz.

It was really satisfying to see the parents taking such an active part and having fun! And, after all, the message we wanted to pass on was that healthy eating and staying active can be fun; otherwise nobody would be expected to keep it up.

In a short concluding speech, a Form 4 student, Janice Azzopardi, who represents the students on the Shape Up School committee, confirmed how much the girls had enjoyed the year's activities, especially those of the last week.

She also appealed to all students and parents to seriously continue what the school had started.

Marianne Massa, Shape Up co-ordinator at the Health Promotion Department, who was present for part of the morning, invited the girls to say a big 'thank you' to all the Sisters and staff without whose teamwork, energy and dedication the Shape Up Week would not have been possible. It had been a lot of hard work for all concerned, but it was well worth it.

She added that the high participation of the parents in all the schools deserves a special mention.

She announced that it is envisaged that next year, the schools will focus on the involvement of the community in which they are located.

Finally, all those present were given a key ring bearing the international Shape Up logo, with the name of the school inscribed at the back.

We hope that the memento will serve to remind us of both the occasion and its scope.

Our thanks go to all who helped the school make the event possible especially the Education Division, the Health Promotion Unit, the Home Economics Department, the sponsors San Michel, Messrs Paolo Bonnici, Benna Dairy Products and other sponsors for generously helping out with our activities.