From outdoor classrooms to gardens, how Nova Scotia youth are creating healthier school communities

• Think about the advocacy of Greta Thunberg and Mikaela Loach around climate change and climate justice or Malala Yousafzai’s advocacy for all children’s rights to receive an education.
• We also share it to support youth engagement in social change and healthier school communities year round.

Health Promoting Schools

• The UpLift Partnership is rooted in a global movement and model of Health Promoting Schools, first championed by the World Health Organization and driven by the insight that “health is created and lived by people within the settings of their everyday life.” Involving youth in promoting health in schools can catalyze students’ ability to initiate and bring about positive change in the world — what researchers call their “action competence.” This includes building knowledge, motivation and competencies that align with this year’s International Youth Day theme, Green Skills for Youth.

Building ‘green skills’

• The partnership between these diverse parties is grounded in over a decade of research designed to enhance youth engagement within the Health Promoting Schools model.
• Building green skills helps them to understand the strong connection between health, well-being and nature.

Tranquility Garden

• Prior to this, the school did not have a physical outdoor seating area or place for the students and staff to connect with nature, despite its rural location.
• The Tranquility Garden now provides students, staff and animals with a calming and enjoyable place to visit and play.
• Students and staff planted fruit trees, flowers and shrubs, and built benches for seating to create the garden.

Outdoor shelter, cooking by fire

• Prior to installing the hot tent shelter and stove, few students at the school had the desire to learn outside due to the exposed nature of the outdoor space.
• The outdoor shelter now serves as a space for multiple learning opportunities that connect the students to their environment, like stargazing, cooking by fire and building outdoor education skills.

Farm-to-school movement

• This Go Fresh Salad Bar station is the final piece of a growing farm-to-school movement in their school.
• This funding provided the salad bar infrastructure necessary to support more diverse and nutritious food options at the school cafeteria.

Healthier futures

• As researchers have documented, youth participation in school health promotion enhances youth knowledge, competence, motivation and commitments to health and well-being.
• This, in turn, will help young people become active citizens for a healthier future.
• It is time for youth to have a lead role on the world’s stage, and for more adults to uplift them.