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.
