Editor’s Note

In the 2010/11 school year, the Department of Health invited 30 pre-primary institutions to participate in the StartSmart@school.hk Pilot Project. The Pilot Project aimed at cultivating among young children a healthy lifestyle, while assessing the feasibility and effectiveness of interventions aiming to promote healthy eating and physical activity in the preschool setting.

This project was conducted in three stages (training/support, cross-sector collaboration, and experience sharing). Through support and training, school personnel, food preparation staff, parents and care-givers gained confidence and ability to create and strengthen a favourable environment and culture supportive of healthy eating and physical activity. As such, they were able to help children aged 2 to 6 develop a healthy lifestyle.

To pass on to schools, parents and children the knowledge about nutrition and physical activity, the Department of Health offered a series of workshops, publications, internet resources and relevant educational materials in the Pilot’s first stage.

In the second stage, the pilot schools designed and implemented school-based activities according to pre-set health topics (‘fruit’, ‘balanced diet’, ‘vegetables’, ‘drink more water’ and ‘regular meal time’), incorporating elements of physical activity. Children were encouraged to practise healthy lifestyle habits through practical and lively learning activities. The project not only enabled schools to spread the health messages in teaching activities; it also fostered home-school cooperation through educational resources. These outcomes combined to further the creation of a favourable home-school environment and a culture to support children’s healthy eating and active living.

Active collaboration and hard work among various parties have brought us to the third stage, where we are offering to the public this booklet-and-DVD set, which consolidates the experience gained and publicises the exemplary practices of the pilot schools. This product will be valuable in the promotion of children’s healthy lifestyle.

The Central Health Education Unit
Spring 2012