Page 13 - The Ontario Curriculum, Grades 9-12: Health and Physical Education, 2015 - revised

of the school community. This can include integrating healthy schools policies and programs into school improvement planning processes; establishing a collaborative learning culture that fosters innovation; ensuring that policies and procedures related to student well-being are in place; and collecting and using data to identify priorities and inform programming.
Student Engagement
Student engagement refers to students identifying with and valuing their learning; feeling a sense of belonging at school; and being informed about, engaged with, and empowered to participate in and lead academic and non-academic activities. Student engagement is strengthened when opportunities are provided for students to take leadership roles in relation to their learning, the learning environment, and their well-being; when students are supported in developing the skills they need to be self-directed, self-monitoring learners, through the use of assessment for learning, assessment as learning, and assessment of learning approaches; and when the diverse perspectives of students
are taken into account in school decision-making processes.
Social and Physical Environments
Healthy, safe, and caring social and physical environments support learning and contribute to the positive cognitive, emotional, social, and physical development of students. The social and physical environments can affect both conditions for learning and opportunities for physical activity and healthy living. Sustaining physically healthy and socially supportive environments involves providing ongoing support for the development and maintenance of positive relationships within a school and school community; considering how these environments are influenced by various features and aspects of the school premises and surroundings (e.g., buildings and grounds, routes to and from school, facilities in the school community); and considering the availability of appropriate material and equipment used for various purposes on school premises (e.g., visual supports, program materials, technology).
Home, School, and Community Partnerships
Home, school, and community partnerships engage parents, extended family, school staff, and community groups in a mutually beneficial way to support, enhance, and promote opportunities for learning and healthy schools policies, programs, and initiatives. These partnerships can involve engaging and coordinating services, expertise, and resources that are available, within the school and local community, from a wide array of groups (e.g., school council, student council, public health units); and making connections with the broader community through on-site programs such as child care and family support programs. Partnerships can also be formed that draw on services, expertise, and resources that are available beyond the local community (e.g., in regional, provincial,
or national organizations).
Determinants of Health
The World Health Organization (WHO) declared in the preamble to its constitution, which came into force in 1948, that health is “a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity”. Today, Health Canada includes the following in its list of “determinants of health” (that is, factors
and conditions that can have a significant influence on a person’s health): income and social status, social support networks, education and literacy, employment and working conditions, physical and social environments, biology and genetic endowment, personal
INTRODUCTION
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