One of Al Rabeeh School’s main goals is to care for every child educationally, emotionally, morally and physically, while making sure they are developing in the way that is appropriate for their age. We, as a team, not only care for their education but also for their health and well-being. It is crucial to provide children as well as parents with information that enables them to live a long healthy life, and to make well informed decisions about their diet and health. Health Education is embedded into the children’s curriculum from the foundation stages right through Year 7, to help children make good choices. In order to make sure we are achieving this goal of ours, the “healthy lunchbox award” is now a weekly thing – positively reinforcing children and praising them for making the right food choices!
We recognise the connection between a pupil’s health and well-being and their ability to learn effectively and be the best academic version of themselves they can be – well-nourished pupils are more receptive to teaching and will learn better. Healthy eating habits learnt during childhood are usually held constant throughout life. These healthy behaviors can also help reduce the risk of diseases such as obesity, diabetes, iron deficiency, heart disease and some cancers. It is important that they have every opportunity to access healthy food and to learn in an environment that supports healthy eating as part of a healthy approach to life, especially in an environment they spend so much time in – school!
Children at Al Rabeeh School bring a packed lunch from home and are aware of the expectations we have about what should be included in the lunch. They know which food is considered healthy, and which food isn’t. In addition, we frequently remind children at the assembly too through celebrating “Healthy Lunchboxes” with certificates – as mentioned!
Your child should always have healthy food in their lunchbox – and we remind parents of how a child’s diet should be depending on their age through dojo posts, messages, etc. when needed! For example, we welcome sandwiches, fresh fruit and vegetables, yogurt, fruit, juice and milk. We would ask you not to send your child with “fast food” such as chicken nuggets or burgers and certainly no chocolate or sweets of any kind.
Research shows that our brain needs water to stay active and alert. All children must bring water into school daily, in a spill-proof plastic bottle that they can take home at night to rinse and refill.
In addition to promoting healthy lunchboxes, children at Al Rabeeh School benefit from a number of government initiatives such as ‘Super 11’ in conjunction with Daman Active Life. Our children regularly take part in events such as Junior Aquathlon, children’s runs with Gulf Multi Sport, Manchester City FC sessions and the Daily Mile, and so on.
Food and lunch
Please provide, on a daily basis, for your child; a lunch box containing a drink and a snack, a sandwich, a few biscuits or a piece of fruit. No sweets, chocolates or fizzy drinks; this includes Nutella products. Please do not send the drink in a glass bottle as it could get easily broken. Each week, Healthy Lunch awards are given out in each class to the student with the healthiest lunch that week.
Please remember there are no catering facilities at Al Rabeeh School.
Health School Award Winners
We are incredibly proud of our children who won the ‘Healthy School Award’ in 2018 against all other schools in Abu Dhabi. Our students took part in a range of workshops, tournaments and competitions and were recognised for their efforts and contributions by winning the illustrious trophy and 10,000AED to spend on sports equipment. The competition ran in conjunction with Daman ActiveLife the government provider required students to create a plan of how they propose to keep healthy and spread the healthy lifestyles message around the school.