Programma
Creating a school of life
Children who are offered a daily rhythm in primary school with sufficient teaching time, sports, exercise, play and attention for healthy eating, show better physical, emotional and intellectual growth.
Lifestyle Program
The Gezonde Basisschool van de Toekomst (GBT) program, designed to create healthier primary schools for the future, has been introduced at four schools in Limburg. The students took more exercise and received a healthy lunch at school. Researchers from Maastricht University compared the participating schools with four control schools. They looked at the program's effect on health-related behaviors and, easily measured, the children's BMI. The cost of the program was also calculated.
Data was collected from 1,700 students and it was found that the combination of exercise and healthy eating significantly reduced BMI scores. Exercise alone hardly produced any change. In the control group, BMI scores actually increased. Over time, a program like this may contribute to less cardiovascular disease, diabetes and a reduction in the overall burden of disease.
General well-being, bullying, and student and parent satisfaction were also examined. Again, there were positive changes in terms of diet and exercise behaviors and less bullying. Children also found school more enjoyable.
The net social costs for the combination of exercise and healthy eating are about 1 Euro per day per child. According to research, this makes the system affordable and feasible to roll out nationwide. GBT is affiliated with the program Jongeren op Gezond Gewicht (JOGG), in which 212 municipalities and 38 organizations work together to achieve the goal of healthy youth, healthy future.
"Becoming a partner of JOGG was very important to us. Their network and influence on policy and our experience and research ... that is a golden match. This is very important for scaling up." Andrew Simons and Marc Hendriks, program leaders of GBT.
"Speaking of scaling up, in Limburg, we are now working with 30 schools. We know that throughout the Netherlands some 180 schools, municipalities and administrators are interested in or already working with GBT to become Healthy Primary Schools of the Future. Together with JOGG, we will develop the necessary tools to guide them."
There is a growing understanding that unhealthy behavior is actually largely determined by the environment. This project focuses on lifestyle in a different environment than the regular health care system, namely the school. The environment of children during an important stage of life can be positively influenced by a different set-up of the school day with more physical exercise, a healthy lunch and the education that goes along with it. This is a major intervention in a relatively inflexible framework in terms of funding, organization and protocols. And the great thing is, it not only adds value for the teachers and children, but also spreads out into the neighborhoods through parental involvement.
