Sunnyside Elementary to roll out new, official wellbeing programming this year

By William Crooks

Local Journalism Initiative

On Oct. 27, Sunnyside Elementary celebrated becoming an official member of Santé Globale, a holistic healthy lifestyle educational program founded in Sherbrooke in 1998. Students and staff gathered outside for a brief explanation of the new program by Principal Amy Gallant, followed by photo scavenger hunt.

“Sunnyside Elementary is now a Santé Globale school,” Cycle Three Teacher Tania Portelli explained, which involves adding some new aspects to their regular programming.

A main change entails a commitment to outdoor education: one physical education block will be outdoors for each grade, every two weeks throughout the schoolyear, planned and run by their gym teacher with help from a related committee. Cycle Three, for example, will also do some outdoor trips.

Another focus of their new programming is health and wellbeing. The school has always incorporated proper nutrition, for instance, into their teaching, but now, with their own garden and soon-to-be-functional greenhouse, it is much easier to do, Portelli insisted.

“From potatoes, to tomatoes, to peppers… kids were tasting everything, expanding their palettes,” she said, and learning how to cook, plant, and harvest.

Each grade has their own new curriculum which outlines what is expected of them; the school will build novel related elements into their programming year-to-year as they become more comfortable with Santé Globale’s framework.

Sunnyside pays a small amount per child to gain access to Santé Globale’s resources. Representatives from the organization will meet periodically with Sunnyside leadership to help out and keep things on track. The school can now borrow outdoor gear from a warehouse in Magog when they need it, which includes tents, stoves, and other camping equipment.

The outside of their new greenhouse should be finished within a week; Portelli is not sure when the interior will be completed and ready to go. In science class, kids learn about plants’ life cycles, she explained, something they will now be able to do during the winter.

“We want to get kids outside, we want to get kids more active,” she elaborated, speaking on why they signed up to be a part of Santé Globale. Kids are addicted to screens, she noted. Richard Louv coined the term ‘Nature Deficit Disorder’ in 2005, an idea that underlies their rationale.

They have two lakes nearby, access to a bike trail and a forest – they must take advantage of these opportunities, she said. “I’m from Toronto,” she expounded, “all I see [and hear] are planes, traffic and ambulances.” She emphasized it has been proven that taking children outside can relieve symptoms of anxiety and depression.