Schools: Information for Educators

Last updated: November 28, 2024

Peterborough Public Health works in partnership with school boards and school staff to support the health, safety and well-being of students, staff and their families.

Healthy students are better learners and better educated individuals are healthier.

On this page you’ll find a collation of resources for you to use at your school and in your classrooms. We have also collated specific resources for families and parents/caregivers on this separate webpage here: School Health info for Families & Parents.

Teaching Kits

PPH has resources that you can borrow, to help teach health and wellbeing in your classroom. The kits are available for a wide range of grades and topics, including:

Mindfulness (all ages)
Physical Activity (JK-8)
Oral Health (JK-3)
Handwashing & Germs (JK-3)
Nutrition & Food Literacy (JK-6)
Packing School Lunches (JK-8)
Vaping (gr 4-9)
Drug Literacy & Decision Making (gr 7-12)
Sexual Health (gr 8-12)
Pregnancy & Parenting (gr 9-12)

View a full list of the kits, goals, and the contents of each kit here. To borrow a kit, contact schools@peterboroughpublichealth.ca.

Mental Health

Leading Mentally Healthy Schools – A Place to Start for Administrators

School Mental Health Ontario (SMHO)
- SMHO is a place to find evidence-informed information and resources relevant to your role.
- Start with a reflection using this SMHO tool
- Take a free Mental Health Literacy course tailored for Administrators
- Use the Leading Mentally Healthy Schools Guidebook and resources

Supporting Student Mental Health – Resources for Educators and Student Support Staff:

School Mental Health Ontario (SMHO)
- SMHO is a place to find evidence-informed information and resources relevant to your role.
- Take care of you! SMHO offers tip and resources to support caring for yourself and other adults
- Take a free Mental Health Literacy course tailored for Educators
- Use the SMHO Wayfinder – a grade-by-grade guide to teaching about mental health
- School Mental Health Action Kit

Centre for Addiction & Mental Health (CAMH)
OPHEA

Virtual Field Trips: Stress Management and Coping (All ages)

- Mental Health Literacy Lesson Plans added to Ophea’s H&PE Elementary Resources Grades 1-8 on ophea.net
Physical and Health Education Canada
- Teach resiliency
- Mental health literacy

There are resources in our community where you can get help. For a listing of what’s available in the Peterborough Area and provincially, please visit our general Mental Health webpage.

CMHA-HKPR’s Wellness Toolbox also offers things you can do to support your own mental health.

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Screens & Technology Use

Balancing the benefits and risks of young people using screens and digital technology is a common concern.

Lesson Plans are available here for K-8 about screens, media and mental health.

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Substance Use Prevention

Cannabis and Schools – Rules and Resources for Educators
Smoke-Free Ontario Act, 2017 – How the Act Affects: Schools
Vaping:
Student vaping is a complex issue, and it can be challenging to address. Here are key, ready to go resources that you can use to enhance school climate, while meeting Ministry of Education objectives to reduce vaping.
- Elementary School Resource Package
- Secondary School Resource Package
  - Click here for posters from the Unfiltered Facts campaign, created by and posted here with permission from the City of Hamilton Public Health Services. Check out www.unfilteredfacts.ca for more information and resources.

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Nutrition

Well-nourished students are better prepared to learn.

“It is important for teachers to establish a healthy eating environment in the classroom by ensuring that the topics taught, approaches taken and environments, in which students learn, are supportive of healthy eating”. (Ontario Ministry of Education, Elementary Teacher Resource Guide)

Link to Educator Resources:

Find credible information to help teach healthy eating expectations in the classroom.

Lesson Plans and Teaching Tools:

BrightBites.ca – curriculum linked tools, tips and lesson plans
FoodisScience.ca – hands on tools for teaching science through food
Teaching Canada’s food guide – Canada’s Food Guide – presentations, toolkits and healthy eating information for different life stages.
You’re the Chef – hands-on activities to help children develop food skills and confidence to plan and prepare healthy food.

Healthy Eating and Food Neutral Information:

Food Literacy Peterborough– Virtual nutrition and cooking series includes 5 mini-episodes about nutrition, with Peterborough Public Health Registered Dietitians, and 7 mini-episodes showcasing healthy recipes and Canada’s Food Guide, with our chefs.
UnlockFood.ca– A searchable site of nutrition topics and subject areas including types of foods, eating patterns and behaviours, chronic disease prevention, food preparation and planning.
School Nutrition Resources (odph.ca) – Evidence based resources developed by ODPH members to support best practices related to healthy eating and nutrition in elementary and secondary schools in Ontario.

Support Student Nutrition Programs:

All students benefit from access to nourishing food at school. Kids arrive at school hungry for many reasons: skipped breakfasts, early morning practices, long commutes, busy family routines and sometimes, not enough food at home. The program is non-stigmatizing when everyone participates!

Visit www.FoodforKidsPTBO.ca for more information.

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Health & Physical Education

Ophea continues to provide critical support to educators.
- Ophea’s H&PE Elementary Resources: Grade 1-8
- Ophea’s H&PE Secondary Resources
- Always Changing and Growing Up – Offering content, lesson plans, and teaching strategies to help students understand their changing bodies, the stages of puberty, and developing a positive self-image.
Physical and Health Education Canada (PHE Canada),
- PHE Time Videos – Featuring physical and health educators and Canadian Olympic athletes, the PHE Time Videos offer a series of virtual instructional videos to engage your students in physical education, healthy eating, and emotional well-being educational activities.

Health & the Environment

Pathway to Stewardship and Kinship – Promotes and supports healthy childhood development, community connection and environmental stewardship through building an early and ongoing relationship with nature.
Green-Up offers a variety of environmental learning programs for elementary school students. Check them out here: Schools | GreenUP

Active School Travel

Active School Travel (AST) means using active and sustainable transportation for the daily trips to and from school. Doing this helps to address health and traffic safety issues while taking action on air pollution and climate change. AST Peterborough is a partnership comprised of representatives from GreenUP, Peterborough Public Health, KPRDSB, PVNCCDSB, Student Transportation Services of Central Ontario, the City of Peterborough, County of Peterborough, The Crossing Guards of Peterborough, and the Peterborough Police Service.

Schools are welcome to reach out to Active School Travel Peterborough for information and potentially support. More information and resources relating to active school travel can be found at Active School Travel Peterborough | GreenUP

Immunizations

While COVID-19 means lots of changes in schools and daycares to keep everyone safe, one thing that hasn’t changed is the requirement to keep children on track with required routine immunizations. For more information on school immunizations visit PPH’s immunization webpage.

For more information on how parents can update their child’s records visit PPH’s Immunization Records webpage.

Link to Educator Resources

A Guide to the Immune System

A Free school program for Grades 2-12 to learn about the immune system, staying healthy and the critical role vaccines play in sound public health strategies. Scroll to the ‘Teachers’ section of the webpage to find recorded sessions and activities to use in your lessons.

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Guide to Common Childhood Infections

Guide to Common Childhood Infections – This quick reference guide lists common childhood infections (reportable and non-reportable) and provides information about how to recognize the infection, how the infection is spread and when to report/exclude from school or childcare.

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Let’s go to Kindergarten 2024 – Information and tips to help prepare children for a healthy start to kindergarten.

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