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Healthy Campus Policy (Eating Policy)
Healthy eating is essential for students' growth, thus the school is active in promoting the importance of healthy eating among students, staff and parents, aiming to foster an environment conducive to healthy eating and to cultivate healthy eating practices among all school members.
- To promote the importance of healthy eating among staff, students, parents and the public, raising awareness on a healthy lifestyle.
- To ensure that the food provided by the school is of decent quality, fostering an environment that is conducive to healthy eating.
- To cultivate healthy eating practices among teachers, students and staff.
Students Affairs Committee and Healthy Campus Committee
- Healthy eating policies are conducted by the Students Affairs Committee, whose team members include teachers, PTA parent representatives, and parents. The Committee is responsible for devising and implementing policies on healthy eating.
- The Committee will notify staff, parents and students of the school's policies and measures on healthy eating through notices every year.
- The Committee will review the implementation of the policies annually and make necessary amendments.
- The Committee is responsible for conducting talks, activities and trainings to promote healthy eating.
| Lunch Provision | |
1 | To give priority to the nutritional quality of lunch sets when selecting a lunch supplier. The school makes reference to the Handbook of Selection of Lunch Suppliers in this regard. |
2 | To stipulate in the contract signed with the lunch supplier that all lunch sets should comply with the requirements of the Nutritional Guidelines on Lunch for Students (2017 version) published by the Department of Health. |
3 | To review lunch menus monthly before they are introduced to students and parents, ensuring that no “strongly discouraged food items” or desserts are provided in all lunch sets. |
4 | To provide students and parents with the approved school lunch menu, together with their nutritional information, on a monthly basis so that informed choice could be exercised. |
5 | To monitor whether all lunch sets are in compliance with the requirements of the Nutritional Guidelines on Lunch for Students (2017 version) in a week with five school days on a monthly basis. Make records by using or making reference to the “School Lunch Nutritional Quality Assessment and Comment Form” provided by the Department of Health. Communicate the monitoring result to the lunch supplier and request for improvement. Such records should be duly kept until the end of the contract. |
6 | To encourage parents who prepare homemade lunch sets to observe the Nutritional Guidelines on Lunch for Students (2017 version), with emphasis on providing at least one serving of vegetables, no “strongly discouraged food items” (e.g. deep-fried food, salted egg and salted fish) and no desserts in the lunch set. |
7 | To handle cases of students who failed to bring lunch sets in compliance with the school healthy eating policy in a manner agreed by both school and parents. |
8 | To open the G/F canteen for students and staff to have lunch, and to separate the lunch time into three slots, ensuring that students have sufficient time for consumption of meals. |
9 | To nurture the habit of eating fruit. Discuss the arrangement of fruit provision (self-prepared/supplied by lunch supplier) with the lunch supplier and parents so that at least half a serving of fruit could be consumed in school each day. |
Snack Arrangement | |
1 | To place high priority to the nutritional quality of snacks when selecting snack suppliers. Make reference to the Nutritional Guidelines on Snacks for Students (2018 version) issued by the Department of Health and forbid the sale of snacks belonging to the group of “Snacks to Choose Less” at school. |
2 | To ensure all food items sold at tuck shops and vending machines have no snacks belonging to the group of “Snacks to Choose Less” (including drinks) are sold. Such checks should be conducted two times in a school year and records can be made by taking reference to the “School Snacks Nutritional Quality Assessment and Comment Form” provided by the Department of Health. Communicate the monitoring result to the operators and request for improvements. Such records should be duly kept until the end of the contract. |
3 | To encourage parents to observe the Nutritional Guidelines on Snacks for Students (2018 version) and advise them not to provide food and drinks belonging to the group of "Snacks to Choose Less", e.g. potato chips, chocolate, butter cookie, etc. that are high in fat, salt or sugar. Advise parents to prepare healthy snacks, e.g. fresh fruits, boiled eggs and plain biscuits. Emphasize that snacks should not spoil the appetite for the next main meal and should be consumed only when hungry. |
4 | To forbid the promotion of snacks belonging to the group of “Snacks to Choose Less” at school and ban the sponsorship of school activities by manufacturers of such snacks. |
5 | To request the operators of tuck shops and vending machines to promote snacks that belong to the group of “Snacks to Choose More”. These healthy snacks should be placed in a conspicuous location. |
6 | To encourage students to have water as their main drink. Ensure all students can access to potable water. |
7 | To handle cases of students who failed to bring snacks in compliance with the school healthy eating policy in a manner agreed by both school and parents. |
8 | To avoid rewarding students with food and avoid delivering messages that are contradicting to healthy eating habits. |
To review the implementation of the policy annually and amend when necessary, so that the objectives of the policy are enforced with adequate manpower and resources.
To cultivate healthy eating practices among students, the school has joined the EatSmart School Accreditation Scheme (ESAS) and the Joyful Fruit Day, both organised by the Department of Health (for details please visit http://school.eatsmart.gov.hk). We encourage all teachers and students to enjoy fruits together at school. Parents can prepare different fruits like apples, strawberries, oranges, bananas, etc. for children. They can cut and pack them in food boxes for convenient transport and consumption. The lunch supplier will also provide fruits for students during lunch time. Parents who prepare homemade lunch sets can also prepare fruits for students to eat after lunch. This activity aims to foster collaboration between the school and parents, cultivating an environment conducive to daily fruit consumption.
To establish healthy eating habits among chidlren, the school would like to invite parents to participate actively and encourage children to engage in the event. Parents and students are also encouraged to pay more attention to information on healthy eating for better growth. (For more details, please visit the webpage of EatSmart@school.hk Campaign organised by the Department of Health.)
For information on the nutrition value of fruits and fruit recipes, please visit the website of the Department of Health: http://school.eatsmart.gov.hk.
Healthy eating is essential for students’ growth and prevention of a number of health problems such as heart disease, diabetes, hypertension and cancer. However, for a number of reasons, healthy eating is not commonly practised among local students. A rising trend of overweight and obesity is recorded: ten years ago, about one in six school students is overweight or obese; today, about one in five school students is overweight or obese.
To help students grow healthily and enhance their learning abilities, the Department of Health organises the EatSmart School Accreditation Scheme (ESAS) every year. The scheme guides the school to implement the "School Healthy Eating Policy", building up a learning environment conducive to healthy eating, and cultivating good eating habits among students. To encourage the adoption of a healthy eating diet in students, parents are encouraged to work together with the school in the following ways:
For parents preparing homemade lunch sets for students, please refer to the following guidelines: Provide at least one serving of vegetables (i.e. 1/2 bowl of cooked leafy vegetables) and do not provide "strongly discouraged food items" (e.g. deep-fried food items, and food items with very high salt content such as salted fish, salted egg and preserved sausages) or desserts. Also, grains, vegetables and meat in the lunch box are to be provided in the ratio of 3:2:1 by volume (i.e. grains is the most, vegetables is less, and meat is the least). For choices of snacks, please refer to the Nutritional Guidelines on Snacks for Students: do not provide “snacks to choose Less” (e.g. food items high in fat, salt or sugar, such as potato chips, chocolates, butter cookies, candies, soda, juice with added sugar, and lemon tea). Parents can choose fresh fruits, boiled eggs, low-fat milk, low-sugar soymilk or plain biscuits as healthy snacks. Parents may also refer to the “Database of Prepackaged Snacks” on the webpage of the Hong Kong Nutrition Association, where examples of “snacks of choice” and “snacks to choose in moderation” are listed. Moreover, parents can use the “Snack Nutritional Classification Wizard” launched by the Department of Health to categorise snacks with nutrition labels according to their nutrition value. Aptly taken, healthy snacks should not affect the appetite of children for the next main meal.
The school will provide two fruits for every student every week. Apart from that, parents are encouraged to ensure that students consume 1-2 middle-sized fruit(s) every day.
Nutritional Guidelines on Lunch for Students & Nutritional Guidelines on Snacks for Students, Department of Health
Please refer to the webpage of the "EatSmart@school.hk" Campaign (ESS Campaign) by the Department of Health for the Nutritional Guidelines on Lunch for Students, Nutritional Guidelines on Snacks for Students, and “'Letter to Parents: Eating Vegetables and Fruits Every Day Improves Children's Health".