In response to the growing prevalence of chronic diseases among children, APPLE Schools was established with an innovative approach to improve eating habits, enhance mental well-being, and increase physical activity among Canadian students. By providing students with skills, knowledge, and attitudes towards healthy habits, we empower them to embrace lifelong wellness behaviours.
APPLE Schools partners with underserved schools to cultivate environments that foster positive experiences, promoting healthy living among students. Our comprehensive approach integrates healthy choices seamlessly into school life and curricular activities, fostering a culture where making healthy choices is the norm for students, staff and families.
Collaborating closely with schools, we identify their unique health goals and develop tailored action plans. Through ongoing mentorship and provision of resources, including funding, we empower schools to prioritize student well-being. Students play a pivotal role in leading and participating in initiatives, ensuring their peers are actively engaged in the process.
Our partnerships with the Universities of Alberta and Toronto ensure our approach is grounded in scientific research, validating our impact on health behaviours. This impact has been widely published by the scientific community.
In recent years, APPLE Schools has achieved significant milestones, showcasing our commitment to scalability and impact. Amidst the challenges of the pandemic, we adapted our approach to support school wellness, ensuring seamless integration of health priorities into virtual classrooms.
We recently introduced the APPLE Ally schools model, an additional and accessible implementation approach, successfully launching projects in 23 new schools. We've expanded our reach with new digital resources, including learning modules and best-practice resources, enhancing accessibility to our project.
Our progress reflects our scalability, positioning us for continued expansion and greater impact across Canada, including recent expansions in regions (southern Alberta) and new provinces (Ontario).
APPLE Schools extends its support to additional schools as funding permits. We collaborate with school districts to identify underserved schools and initiate discussions to assess their willingness and commitment to participate in our program.
We are unable to take on all interested schools at this time. However, we offer our best-practice resources for free on our website at www.appleschools.ca.
