BREAKFAST FOR LEARNING BRITISH COLUMBIA

Breaking the Fast: School Nutrition Programs Improve Health, Learning and Social Outcomes

Child nutrition programs bring significant positive outcomes to children by satisfying fundamental nutritional requirements which improve physical health, academic and social behaviours. Since 2001, Breakfast for Learning British Columbia (“BFL BC”) has been providing Nutrition Grants and nutrition education resources to schools and community groups to improve the nutritional health of children throughout British Columbia.

Programs share their successes by completing an annual Progress Report Form (Appendix A) when applying for subsequent annual funding. The goal of this report is to communicate the positive impact BFL BC funded nutrition programs have had on child health and learning and to provide a vehicle to share individual program successes and challenges. In addition, recommendations are included as to how BFL BC can better support our nutrition programs throughout the province.

For the 2007 – 2008 academic year, of the total 210 schools and community organizations that
applied for funding, 135 were returning programs that submitted progress reports with an
application for continued funding. The responding schools were unanimously positive about
the impact their program had on their ability to increase children’s knowledge of good nutrition.

Of the 135 reporting organizations:

• 98% noted an improvement in nutrition education
• 94% saw children making healthier food choices

In addition, respondents noted significant successes in social outcomes:

• 85% saw an improvement in attention span
• 80% noted a reduction in tardiness
• 82% noted improved behaviour


Perhaps most significant of all is that 97 % of the reporting organizations reported an increase
in overall student happiness. Programs are becoming increasingly creative in food preparation and finding innovative ways to entice young children to try new dishes, such as fruits and vegetables that they otherwise would not have the opportunity or desire to consume. One program makes yogurt sundaes,
which they call “DQ Sundaes” meaning “Delicious, Quality Sundaes”.

Another program hides chunks of bananas in the oatmeal and offers a prize to the children who find one. Christina Lake Elementary writes: “We’ve really enjoyed having the funding to offer our students fresh fruits and vegetables that they may not get to enjoy at home. The students have had the opportunity to try
different fruits that they may never have come across before and they love it.”

BFL-funded programs are taking nutrition education to heart and using their program to underscore the importance of healthy eating habits in and out of school as well as a vehicle to teach life skills. The Community Learning Center in Merritt, BC writes: “Our program has really taught the children the value of good nutrition. We recently screened the documentary ‘Super Size Me” for students which really helped drive the point home about the importance of healthy eating habits. In addition, we use our program to teach life skills: students are given a “budget”, we take a field trip to our local grocery store and they have to plan a healthy meal. We also incorporate physical fitness into our nutrition plan with a daily stretch before eating.”

The anecdotal information and data supplied by these progress reports reveals certain areas where it may be useful for BFL BC to provide additional support in the future. Based on these findings, it is recommended that BFL BC:

• encourage participating programs to increase the successful outcomes of their program by adopting the best practice standard of the Keys to Success;
• develop simple, easy to use template letters that programs can customize in their pursuit of local funding;
• encourage the further sharing of success stories, fundraising ideas and menus through our newsletter;
• continue to strengthen the position of BFL BC by working with other agencies that promote the health and nutrition of British Columbia students;
• increase awareness of BFL BC throughout the province; and
• develop partnerships that will financially support the nutrition grant funding stream.

Overall, the enthusiasm and creativity expressed by the participating schools and organizations is very inspiring and reveals a strong commitment on behalf of the program coordinators, school administrators and volunteers to ensure the children in their care are well- nourished and ready to learn.

Download the full report: Breaking the Fast: School Nutrition Programs Improve Health,
Learning and Social Outcomes (PDF).