"Every school-aged child or youth is part of a healthy school community."
Vision
Every school-aged child or youth is part of a healthy school community.
Mission
To promote and foster healthy school communities through a comprehensive school health approach that enhances the health of Alberta children and youth.
Guiding Principles
We believe that creating and sustaining healthy school communities requires:
Understanding of the broad factors that affect health, not simply risk factors such as poor diet and lack of exercise but also risk conditions such as lack of financial resources and lack of sense of belonging.
Recognizing that children's health status affects ability to learn and educational attainment affects health status.
Emphasizing proactive and comprehensive approaches that work to address root causes of poor health by focusing on the conditions and environments in which people live, learn, work, and play.
Ensuring meaningful participation of individuals and communities whose health is to be influenced.
Strengthening collaboration through broad-based, multidisciplinary, and intersectoral partnerships.
Respecting skills, values, and experiences of diverse people and cultures.
Developing policies which are supportive of health.
Pursuing social justice to reduce health disparities.
"What does comprehensive school health (CSH) mean to the ACHSC?"
We believe that comprehensive school health (CSH) is an approach to health promotion in the school setting and is comprised of the following key components:
A ‘whole’ school approach is adopted where students, teachers, parents, school staff, community groups, agencies, and institutions work together on key priorities for improving health and educational attainment.
Priority health issues are addressed through integration, coordination, and enhancements to curriculum and teaching methods; social and physical environments; and home, school, and community partnerships and services.
Identified champions of the CSH approach provide leadership in schools.
Facilitation of coordinating processes in schools helps assure success.
Strategies or interventions that are implemented are evidence-based or have a strong indication that they are promising practice.
Evaluation methods are utilized to report on the benefits or desired outcomes for school communities.
