Educator interacting with children in his classroom.

Educators

Home Health and Wellness School HealthEducators

Educators play an important role in the health of school communities.

Your school's public health nurse can provide you with support and resources to assist you in teaching and promoting health in your school.

Contact the public health nurse associated with your school today!

Concussions and injury prevention

Concussions

Below are resources that educators and administrators can use in addition to your school board concussion policy which is compliant with Policy/Program Memorandum (PPM) No. 158.

Educators review the concussion guide for teachers.
Follow the return to school strategy for players who have had a concussion. Children are only safe to return after a doctor says so.

Healthy eating behaviours and food safety

Supporting healthy eating in school can help:

Students adopt healthy eating behaviours.
Reinforce the curriculum and give students the chance to practice newly learned skills.

Healthy eating success stories

Read about local schools' success stories.

Email us and share your school's healthy eating success story.

Student councils

School councils can support student achievement. They can do this by helping the school community organize healthy eating programs and activities.

Healthy snack or breakfast programs

Healthy fundraising and special events

Ideas for school projects

Resource and curriculum links

Videos in French

School food policies

In Ontario there is a School Food and Beverage Policy (P/PM 150). It includes nutrition standards for food and beverages sold in schools.

Understanding P/PM 150:

Trans Fat Standards Regulation

Healthy sexuality

Sex education (SEXed) Manual for educators

This manual has information that will help with teaching the 2015 Ontario Curriculum for Health & Physical Education and is intended to teach sexual health to students in Grades 9 to 12.

Access the SEXed Manual for educators

Mental health promotion

Schools are a place where students can form positive connections with caring adults, peers and the community. These relationships help students develop a sense of belonging, feel valued and supported, and develop skills to handle life's ups and downs in positive ways.

Mental health resources for schools

Mental health resources for educators

Creating and Sustaining Mentally Healthy Classrooms - Online Learning Module

Recognizing and Responding to Anxiety in the Classroom - Online Learning Module

Recognizing and Responding to Mood Problems in the Classroom - Online Learning Module

The Psychology Foundation of Canada stress resources provide curriculum linked lesson plans for teachers to support their students with engaging, easy to use, grade appropriate activities and videos. Public health nurses are available to provide support and training for teachers on the resources.

Petting zoos: health and safety

Animals can offer a valuable learning experience but can also expose children and staff to infections, injuries and are a source of allergens. Children under five are at a higher risk.

Physical activity and sedentary behaviour

Resources for schools

Daily Physical Activity (DPA)

DPA ensures that students have at least of 20 minutes of sustained moderate to vigorous physical activity at school daily.

DPA resources

Road and off-road safety

Ontario Road Safety website for lesson plans and toolkits to teach children and youth about road safety.
National Teen Driver Safety Week
Creating a Healthy Secondary school that supports: Road Safety and Injury Prevention.

Substance use and harm reduction

Substance use and mental health

Substance Use and Mental Health Curriculum (Grades 6, 7 and 8)

Discovering you! Grade 5 resource

Student workbook: English | French
Teacher companion guide: English | French

Contact your school's public health nurse to order hard copies of the student workbook and teacher companion guide.

Alcohol and marijuana-free living

Creating an Alcohol and Marijuana-Free School

Helpful information for educators

The Canadian Centre for Substance Abuse created Standards for School-Based Youth Substance Abuse Prevention.
The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health has created resources for educators. They focus on substance misuse.
Health Canada has information on marijuana and alcohol.

UV exposure

Schools can play an important role in preventing skin cancer in future generations, by helping children develop healthy sun safe attitudes and behaviours. Raising awareness and learning about sun safety provide necessary skills to students especially when they are outdoors.

Curriculum support

Sunsense Program

The Canadian Cancer Society (Ontario Division), Evergreen and OPHEA have collaborated to provide the Sunsense Program Teaching Guide for educators. The guide consists of lesson plans and interactive activities for grades 1 to 6.

Grade 2 Curriculum Support Sun Safety package

Grade 2 curriculum resource cover Durham Region Health Department is pleased to offer the Grade 2 Sun Safety Curriculum Resource package in French and English. This package is designed to complement the grade 2 curriculum and includes:

a variety of activity pages
posters (two sizes)
class set of bookmarks (30 per package)
class set of pencils (30 per package)
class set of fact sheets for parents of grade 2 students (30 per package)

Additional resources

If you would like additional information about addressing sun safety in your school, or to borrow our interactive skill building tools for your class, please contact your school’s public health nurse or call the Durham Health Connection Line.

Tobacco

Brief Contact Intervention (BCI)

BCI is a tool that teachers can use to assist students in quitting smoking. Your school's public health nurse can provide a presentation to staff to train them in using BCI with students.

Quit4Life

Quit4Life is a program designed to help youth quit smoking. It is a 10-week, four-step, group program delivered by an adult facilitator that has experience working with youth in a school or community setting, which could include a school staff member or your school's public health nurse.

For more information or visit the Quit4Life facilitators page.

Quit4Life Resources

Know What's In Your Mouth

Youth often trying alternative tobacco products, such as smokeless tobacco, thinking that it is a safer choice than smoking cigarettes. Ten per cent of Durham Region students in Grades 9 to 12 reported using smokeless tobacco at least once in their lifetime.

Order a copy of the Know What's In Your Mouth toolkit.