Social Environments shape how students and staff feel at school. They include:

• Positive relationships between students, their peers, and school staff

• Ways of welcoming and including all students within a classroom or school, and promoting belonging

• Opportunities for students to be full and equal partners in decision-making about their school experience

Physical Environments are spaces for learning, movement play and connection. They include:

• Indoor spaces like classrooms, hallways, gymnasiums, cafeterias, and learning commons

• Outdoor spaces like playgrounds, fields, outdoor classrooms, gardens, and pathways.

Services and programs are the supports offered by health professionals and services providers in collaboration with schools as well as connections and relationships between schools and communities. It includes:

• Youth Health Centre’s

• Immunization programs for students

• Fluoride Varnish Program

• School health promotion training opportunities

• School health promotion information, resources

Policies are written directives that influence school life. They include:

• Policies and standards set by Dept. of Education and Early Childhood Development like the Nova Scotia School Food and Nutrition Policy, Provincial School Code of Conduct Policy, NS Inclusive Education Policy

• RCE policies, administrative procedures, and regulations

• Multi-year education plans or frameworks

• Annual development plans in schools

Teaching and learning involves the ways both students and staff learn and practice health and well-being at school. It includes:

• Curriculum-based instruction and activities to develop, strengthen, and practice skills (including both in-person and virtual teaching)

• Informal instruction that happens outside of traditional learning spaces, like through online social experiences, hallway or recess conversations, or extracurricular activities

• Training for educators, including virtual and in-person workshops, presentations, webinars, mentorships, and collaboratives