It takes a Village: School Travel Planning Enhanced through a Comprehensive School Health Approach: Extending Lessons Beyond the School Community ( breakout presentation )

Abstract

School Travel Planning (STP) is a comprehensive process designed to increase local ownership of Active and Safe Routes to school by engaging community stakeholders. When effectively coordinated, and implemented STP can result in positive school travel behaviour change, and ultimately provide substantial economic, environmental and physical activity benefits. Comprehensive School Health (CSH) is an internationally-recognized approach to supporting improvements in students’ educational outcomes while addressing school health in a planned, integrated, and holistic way. Actions address four distinct but interrelated components: (1) Social and Physical Environments includes the quality of the relationships between the school and surrounding community stakeholders, the emotional well-being of students and the buildings, grounds, play spaces and equipment in and around the school; (2) Teaching and Learning includes resources, activities and curriculum where students, or staff gain skills and knowledge related to health and wellness; (3) Policy includes management practices, decision-making processes, policies and procedures that promote and support health and wellness; (4) Partnerships and Services includes connections between schools, families, community organizations, the health sector and other sectors that support health. CSH can be used to improve many different health issues, including nutrition, physical activity, mental health, injury prevention, or even active transport. School communities are encouraged to apply actions in the 4 components using a community development process with six steps (2). This breakout session will highlight the many similarities in these two processes by lining up the 5-phase process of STP, with the 6-step community development process of CSH, and discuss how lessons learned from CSH, and particularly through working within all four components can enhance STP. The presentation will highlight, how when combined these two approaches will work synergistically to support active transport in and around a school community. Additionally, lessons learned from both processes can be applied beyond the school communities in neighborhoods, and workplaces.