In November 2014, schools  went ‘nude’ with their school lunches to promote a healthy body and a healthy planet for  National Nude Food Day, run by Nude Food Movers Australia.

 

To celebrate the event Nude Food Movers offered over $5,000 in prizes to schools who best created and explained how they made Nude Food Day a big event in their school calendar.

As a result, Nude Food Movers in partnership with Nutrition Australia, had over 5 million students around Australia participate in the event.

Congratulations to Milton State School who won the 2014 competition.  The Nude Food Day event at Milton State School was managed by thier sustainability committee.   We wanted to find out more about the Milton State School sustainability committee and share with our readers the wonderful work that they do.  Milton State School parent Emma Kettle helped us put together our Q&A with the sustainability committee.

How did your sustainability committee get started?

The Committee started in 2013 through a commitment between a parent and a teacher to try and implement recycling in Milton State School. They felt the best way to advance recycling and other sustainability initiatives in the school was to form a Committee of like minded parents and community to help them achieve a vision of a more sustainable school.

 

Who is on the sustainability committee?

The Committee is made up of dedicated teachers and parents; there are also representatives from time to time from the local business community. Members all bring a wide range of interest in sustainability, in particular around the concepts of healthy planet and healthy body.

 

What are the most successful events your sustainability committee has run and how did these events benefit the students and school?

In 2014 we had an exciting year, with many events being held. Along side participating in the Active Travel program every Wednesday, we also focused our events around the Nude Food concept and implementing regular Nude Food days across the whole school. To help raise awareness on these days we have also run events such as, the ‘Fruit and Vegetable’ juice days, which was great fun and embraced by students and parents too. We also held a parent Nude Food Information night, which was very well received and generously supported by many local businesses. All these events have helped raise parents awareness of the benefits of a waste free lunch, in particular how this supports healthy food choices for their children. It also helps to build confidence, in parents, teachers, students and teachers in rolling out the nude food message throughout the year.

 

What have been the keys to success for your sustainability committee?

Keys to success have been having a strong, commitment group of like-minded, and driven individuals who really believe in the strength of community to make positive changes for our children. It is our aim to imbed a sustainable approach within the school, the students and also to reach our local community and share the sustainable message.

 

Have you faced any barriers and how did you overcome these?

Yes we have faced some barriers, the biggest one is that everyone is so time poor as they are running businesses, full time jobs and are just generally very busy people. We try and share the load as much as possible and keep our expectations in check, we can’t make these changes overnight, it is definitely a long term journey.

 

Why did you decide to enter the National Nude Food Day competition?

Our big focus in 2014 was to raise awareness and particularly to inform not just the students but help the parents understand our goal to be more sustainable and improve our health all at the same time! The Nude Food concept is a perfect blend of healthy planet and healthy body message. With all the events we held in 2014 to promote the nude Food concept and the desire to continue our effort in 2015, we decide to enter the competition to share our ideas, raise awareness of the great job the students were doing in getting behind the Nude Food concept. We also hoped earn some funds to help our sustainability committee continue to make an impact and role out our sustainability initiatives.

 

What does winning a prize mean for your school?  

It has also been a great way to raise awareness about the Sustainability Committee and given us some credibility, kudos and helped to acknowledge all the great work the students and teachers have put into being more sustainable. It also gives us funds that we can put toward sustainability initiatives for the school, which is a fabulous opportunity to continue to strengthen our committee and messages.

 

Front: Kylie Dunn – MSS Deputy Principal, Rachael Nasplezes – Sustainability Committee chairperson, Jessica Craig – MSS Sustainability Captain (Student)   

Back: Emma Kettle and Katherine McDonald – Parent’s involved in co-ordinating the Nude Food events