Malik Academy & Al Bustan Pre-School 2016-2017
Schools play an important role in promoting children’s health in the community. At Malik Academy and Al Bustan pre-school we want our students to be in not only a safe environment but a healthy one as well. This includes education about nutrition and health.
I. School Health Council
Malik Academy’s school health council will work to develop, implement, monitor, review and as necessary revise all health related policies. The council will also serve as a resource to the school for implementing these policies. The council will consist of parents, students, teachers, principal, members of the school board, health professionals and members of the public.
II. Nutritional Quality of Foods and Beverages Sold and Served on Campus
A. School Meals
Malik Academy offers a lunch, breakfast and snack program.
All school meals must follow these standards in accordance with the National School Lunch and Breakfast Program:
-Appealing and attractive to students
-Clean and pleasant settings where served
-Have nutrition requirements met by local, state and federal regulations
-Offer a variety of fruits and vegetables
-Serve 1% or skim milk with all meals
-Ensure that all grains offered are whole grains
Malik Academy should share the nutritional content of meals with parents and students. This information will be available on the lunch menus.
i. Breakfast
Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. In an effort to guarantee students are eating breakfast to meet their nutritional needs and enhance their ability to learn, Malik Academy operates the School Breakfast Program. All parents and students are aware of the availability of this program. It is arranged before school to allow students time to sit down and eat.
ii. Free and Reduced-priced Meals
Since we offer free and reduced priced meals to all students we make every effort to eliminate any social stigma and prevent identification of any students who are eligible for free and reduced meals.
iii. Meal Times and Scheduling
-We will provide students with at least 10 minutes to eat after sitting down for breakfast and 20 minutes after sitting down for lunch
-Lunch is scheduled for all classes between 12:15 and 1:00
-Lunch will be served before recess
-Students will always have access to washing hands before they eat meals and snacks
iv. Snacks
Snacks make a positive contribution to student’s diets and health. Students are encouraged to bring healthy snacks during their morning break. This helps students focus better and gain an understanding of what is healthy for them. A snack is also offered for all students staying after-school (after 3:15) as part of the National Lunch Program.
v. Qualifications of Food Service Staff
The food service staff is highly qualified to deal with school lunches. They are allergen aware certified and food safe certified. They are well aware of children nutrition.
vi. Sharing of Foods and Beverages
At Malik Academy sharing of foods is not only discouraged but against school rules [See Parent Handbook]. This is about the concern of allergies and/or certain students diets. Malik Academy is a nut-free school. This includes tree nuts and sesame seeds. We want to make our school safe for any student, faculty or staff with a nut allergy.
B. Food and Beverages Sold Individually
At Malik Academy all foods and beverages sold outside of the school meals program during the school day have to meet the following nutrition
i. Beverages
Allowed:
-Water
-Fruit and vegetable juices
-Fruit based drinks that contain at least 50% fruit juice and no additional caloric sweeteners
-Unflavored or flavored low-fat or fat-free milk
-Nutritionally equivalent non-dairy beverages
Not Allowed:
-Soft drinks
-Sports drinks
-Iced-Teas
-Beverages containing caffeine, additional caloric sweeteners and less than 50% fruit juice
ii. Foods
-A food item sold individually will have no more than 35% of its calories from fat and 10% of its calories from saturated and trans-fat combined.
-Will have no more than 35% of its weight from added sugars
III. Physical Activity Opportunities and Physical Education
A. Physical Education (P.E.)(Gym)
All students will participate in physical education. The class is held once a week for 45 minutes for the entire school year. The class is taught by a physical education teacher. At least 50% of the class time will be participating in moderate to vigorous physical activity. P.E. is taught at the Reggie Lewis facility across the street from the campus during the winter season and at the playground/basketball court in the warmer months.
B. Daily Recess
All students will have at least 20 minutes a day of supervised recess, outdoors (weather permitting). We encourage students to be engaged in moderate to vigorous activity during this time.
IV. Monitoring and Policy Review
A. Monitoring
The principal will ensure compliance with this policy and will report it to the health council at pre-designated intervals.
Malik’s food service staff will ensure compliance with our nutrition policy.
Malik administration will develop a summary report every year on our compliance with our established nutrition and physical activity wellness policies. This report will be provided to the school board and the health council, parent-teacher organization, principal and our health services.
B. Policy Review
The Malik Academy administration will conduct a baseline assessment of Malik’s existing nutrition and physical activity policies. The results will be compiled to identify and prioritize needs.
Assessments will be repeated every year to help review policy compliance, assess progress and determine areas in need of improvement. As part of that review, Malik will review our nutrition and physical activity policies; provision of an environment that supports healthy eating and physical activity; and nutrition and physical education policies and program elements. Working together we will develop work plans to facilitate their implementation.
V. Invitation to Participate in Future Reviews
Parents, students, teachers, board members, and community members. Malik Academy invites you to take part in the future development, review, update, and implementation of the school Wellness Policy. Contact principal@MalikAcademy for more information.