École Harris Mill celebrated its designation as one of the first schools in Canada to take part in the Healthy School Initiative through Ophea.
“Our goal was to find a way to get active for an hour a day and we focused on skipping as our target activity,” principal Carrie Conrad said at the school’s year-end ceremony on June 24. “As a result of your hard work we were one of the first schools in Ontario to be awarded the Healthy School award.”
The students and parents heard Conrad read a letter from the Canadian women’s national soccer team commending them for their involvement in the Healthy School Initiative and actions to lead healthier lives. The school also received a soccer ball signed by all the members of the Canadian women’s national soccer team for 2015.
“The way we focused on getting active here at school was through skipping and this year we did an amazing job with our skipping club, our skipping performance and our collections for Jump Rope for Heart,” Conrad said.
The students were encouraged to skip both during recess and in a more structured setting.
In addition to receiving recognition from the Canadian women’s soccer team, the school was also recognized by the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), this time for its environmental efforts and was rewarded with a cheque.
“We had literacy day, we had clean up in our community, and with the volunteers from the Royal Bank and from the parents at our school we now have $5,000 to give back to our school playground and for technology in our school,” said École Harris Mill teacher Suzanne Curvan, who was instrumental in organizing the efforts necessary to receive the $5,000,
The school had a clean up in the spring along Indian Trail and the school grounds and there was a clean up at the conservation area. Additionally, staff from RBC came out and helped with the school’s grand opening night and Leo the Lion came and joined in the kindergarten, Grade 1 and Grade 2 classes and to teach them about money.
“We just wanted to say, on behalf of RBC, we’re very proud to be a partner with École Harris Mill and to give back to the community,” said RBC representative Lisa Porterfield
