Live Life Well @ School
Free resources, information and teacher workshops to support primary school staff, students and their families.
What is Live Life Well @ School?
Live Life Well @ School is a collaborative initiative between NSW Health, the NSW Department of Education, Association of Independent Schools of NSW and Catholic Schools NSW to promote healthy eating and physical activity to children in primary school.
It adopts a whole-of-school approach to promoting healthy behaviours, which involves a combination of classroom learning, professional development, school policy, promotional materials for parents and carers, and partnerships and strategies within the school environment.
Live Life Well @ School on the Central Coast
For decades we have worked with primary schools across the Central Coast to provide relevant, well-researched, curriculum-ready resources for children.
We know that for teachers, time is precious. That’s why we’ve made it as easy as possible for you to access resources, register for professional development workshops, be informed and stay up to date, all in one place.
And for parents and carers we know that searching through the myriad of information that’s out there can be daunting. That’s why we’ve got you covered with a range resources on healthy lunchboxes, games, storybooks, recipes and more to support the health and wellbeing of your child.
What’s on?
Our What’s On? Calendar for teachers includes all you need to know about our support for schools in one place, including dates for things like:
- teacher workshops
- release of stage-based curriculum resources
- whole-of-school health and wellbeing programs
- health events and special days
- transition-to-school activities
- opportunities to work together
Your school will have received a hard copy poster of the calendar. You can also download a digital and self-print version.
Next PDHPE Network meeting
We run regular PDHPE Network meetings for school teachers as part of our PDHPE Network. These are practical, hands-on workshops that support teachers to deliver fun and engaging physical activity education for their students, and build their networks along the way.
Dates for upcoming Network meetings will be posted here.
For all updates on Network meetings and resources, join our primary schools mailing list.
We also offer regular meetings for teachers and canteen managers as part of our Canteen Network and School Gardens Interest Group. You can find details on these on our Healthy School Canteens and School Gardens pages.
“Thank you, a great workshop, I'll be using these ideas next term and sharing with staff at school.”
PDHPE Network workshop participant, term 3 2023
“Thanks for an awesome hands-on workshop. Thoroughly enjoyed and very useful.”
PDHPE Network workshop participant, term 4 2022
Crunch&Sip
Crunch&Sip is a set break to eat vegetables or fruit and drink water in the classroom.
What to pack for Crunch&Sip
- A refillable water bottle
- One of the following:
- fresh fruit (whole or chopped);
- fresh vegetables; or
- fruit canned in natural juice (no added sugar) – remember a spoon!
Tips on vegetables and fruits for Crunch&Sip
- Choose varieties that are easy to eat in the classroom, e.g. chopped carrot or celery sticks, cherry tomatoes, banana, mandarin
- Pack them to stay fresh and tasty by Crunch&Sip break
- Choose those that aren’t too sticky for the classroom environment
Sign up for SWAP IT
Have you heard about the SWAP IT program?
SWAP IT is a healthy lunchbox program, trialled on the Central Coast with demonstrated positive results and great feedback from teachers. Watch this short video that explains what SWAP IT is all about.
The program encourages families to swap ‘sometimes’ foods for ‘everyday’ foods in the school lunchbox. It’s a whole-of-school program including parent/carer messages, classroom activities and a school lunchbox guideline.
Join more than 450 schools who have signed up for this evidence-based program.
“Implementing the SWAP IT program to Brooke Avenue Public School was effortless. Resources were provided such as lesson plans, digital files and large posters to be displayed in each classroom. The impact of the program assisted most families to make healthier changes in their child’s lunchboxes with staff noticing a visible decrease in pre-packaged foods being sent to school. The lessons provided had explicit instructions and accompanying resources that linked directly, so staff were happy to implement this as everything was provided with minimal prep time. I would highly recommend this program to any school looking to help students SWAP IT.”
Lauren Johnson, classroom teacher, Brooke Avenue Public School
Stay up to date
Teachers
Join our mailing list if you would like to receive our termly newsletter for teachers or select the initiatives you’d like to specifically receive updates on.
Parents and carers
Our monthly Refresh newsletter contains details on our healthy lifestyle resources, programs and information for the Central Coast community.
You can also follow us on Facebook.
Useful websites
There are a number of other websites with helpful resources and information to support healthy eating and active living for children.
Healthy food and drinks
Eat for Health – advice and nutrition calculators to show the amount and kinds of foods that we need to eat for health and wellbeing based on the Australian Dietary Guidelines
Healthy Lunchbox Builder (Cancer Council NSW) – try this interactive lunchbox builder
Healthy lunchboxes (Healthy Eating Advisory Service) – ideas on how to pack a lunchbox that kids will love
Healthy recipes (Healthy Eating Active Living) – includes a Kids’ Lunch section
Physical activity
Physical activity teaching resources – a selection compiled by NSW Health and the Department of Education for NSW schools
Yulunga Traditional Aboriginal Games – activity resource of more than 100 traditional Indigenous games
Sporting Schools – schools can access resources, online learning and apply for funding
NSW Premier’s Sporting Challenge – a program offering a range of initiatives to students and teachers to promote participation in sport and physical activity
School Sport Unit – shelf-ready teaching and learning resources to support student movement throughout the school day.