What's New

• School Canteen

  Using the school canteen You might like to let your child eat lunch from the school canteen once a week or fortnight, or on special occasions. If your child enjoys an occasional canteen lunch, it’s a good idea to talk with your child about which canteen foods and drinks are healthy and which aren’t. You can also help him choose the healthiest food on the menu. Giving your child a healthy breakfast and packing a healthy lunch are the best ways to make sure your child has the energy she needs to get through a busy school day. Packing your child’s lunch can also save you money. Choosing healthy food from the canteen Here are some healthy canteen options and ideas. If they’re available at your school canteen, these are the options to go for. Sandwiches, rolls and wraps Encourage your child to choose a multigrain, wholemeal or high-fibre white sandwich, roll or wrap. Healthy fillings include salad and lean chicken or beef, fish, eggs or lentil patties. Cold food Your canteen might serve fresh salads, sushi or rice paper rolls – yum! Hot food Here are some healthy hot food options: fresh soups with wholemeal bread rolls on the side pasta or lasagne with fresh tomato, bolognaise or vegetable-based sauce lentil and vegetable hotpot vegetable, chicken or beef curry with rice rice or noodles with lean meat and vegetables. Snacks If your child wants to get a snack from the canteen, encourage him to choose options like these: fruit salads or whole fruit reduced-fat yoghurt and fruit air-popped popcorn (not cooked in oil) reduced-fat cheese with pita or wholemeal crackers vegetable sticks with dip boiled eggs raisin or fruit bread. It’s a good idea to pack a bottle with tap water for your child to drink and refill throughout the day. This is always healthier and cheaper than buying drinks from the canteen. But if your child wants to buy a drink at the canteen, encourage her to choose water or reduced-fat milk and soy drinks. If you have a healthy food environment at home, it helps your child learn about making better choices when eating away from home. Unhealthy canteen food and drinks ‘Sometimes’ foods are foods with high amounts of sugar, saturated fat and salt. You see them on a lot of school canteen menus. These foods aren’t healthy for your child. They give your child a short energy boost that can leave him feeling tired for the rest of the day. They can also lead to unhealthy weight gain if your child eats too much of them. Here are sometimes foods that are best kept for lunch orders on special occasions: all deep-fried foods, including chips, chicken nuggets and dim sims hot pastries like sausage rolls and pies cakes, slices and sweet breads like donuts chocolates, lollies, chips and wedges soft drinks, cordial, flavoured mineral water, sports waters, sports drinks, energy drinks, sweetened waters, flavoured milks, iced tea, breakfast drinks and fruit juice coffee drinks – mocha, latte, cappuccino and so on – and coffee-flavoured milk drinks. Vending machines at school Schools sometimes use vending machines to provide food and drinks. Food stocked in vending machines is often unhealthy – for example, soft drinks, lollies, chips and chocolate bars. Why not send your child to school with an extra piece of fruit or some yoghurt instead? This might reduce the temptation to buy snacks from the vending machine. Or you might like to look at the food in the vending machine with your child and see whether there are any healthy options. School canteen nutrition policy Many school canteens have a nutrition policy. Some schools have developed their policies based on the 2010 National Healthy School Canteens Guidelines, and others base their policies on their state nutrition guidelines for school canteens. If you’re concerned about the nutritional quality of the food sold at your child’s tuckshop, you could ask your school about its canteen policy. Safe foods at school canteens All school canteens must follow careful food preparation procedures. Canteen providers must take proper steps to make sure foods are safe for children to eat. Let your child know that when she buys food from the canteen, she should eat it straight away or put it in the fridge if there is one. These steps help your child avoid food poisoning.

  

• School Application

  

  1. Strong Scores on Standardized Tests. Of those colleges and universities that require the SAT or ACT as part of your application -- and a small (but growing) number of schools do not -- admissions counselors seek scores that match of exceed the scores of their current students. For better or worse, standardized college entrance exam scores are seen as the most objective measure of your college potential. In the process of conducting your research on colleges, you should easily be able to find a profile of the most recently admitted class. (Note: colleges that do not require a standardized test for admission consideration do usually require supplemental materials, such as a graded paper from a core academic course and a portfolio that showcases your strengths, interests, and achievements.) 2. High Grade Point Average. It goes without question that grades are an extremely important element of your college application. Colleges will ask you to submit official transcripts from your high school and possibly recalculate your grade point average based on some internal system they use for weighting different types of courses. Your goal, from the first year of high school forward, is to achieve the best grades you can. If you had a rough freshman year, but have since rebounded with much stronger grades, fear not, because colleges certainly look for trends in academic achievement -- and a record of constant improvement when your GPA is not as strong as you would like is a good sign to most admissions counselors about your growth and potential. 3. Challenging College-Prep Courses. Your challenge is not just to get the best grades you can -- but to get the best grades you can in the most academically challenging courses as you can. You certainly do not need to enroll in an International Baccalaureate (IB) Program at your high school, but where you have the strengths, skills, and aptitude, you should at least strive for Honors or Advanced Placement (AP) courses. Most colleges will place greater weight on these "tougher" courses -- and even go so far as to rate a B in an advanced class (IB, Honors, AP) on a higher scale than an A in a comparable mainstream class. 4. Top Percentage of Class Standing. Class rank and class standing are moving a little further to the back of the pack, partly because class rank means almost nothing in high schools that are at the extremes -- horrible or exceptional. In some of the top high school programs, class rank has been found to actually hurt some of the very best students -- because only so many can be in the top 1, 5, or even 10 percent of the class. Grades obviously drive class rank, so you should of course strive for the very best grades -- and then just hope that the ranking works in your favor or that the colleges you apply to don't use rank as a top criteria for admissions. 5. Leadership Positions in a Few Organizations. Most colleges and universities are seeking leaders from within their applicant pool, and you can make your application stand out by having one or two leadership positions over the course of your high school career. Being a leader in one or two organizations means much, much more than simply being a member in 10 clubs and organizations. Not only does leadership show a certain level of maturity and character, but colleges also have an eye to all their student organizations and their need to recruit future leaders. You don't need to be the president of an organization, but you should be an officer of at least one group by the time you're a senior. 6. Active Involvement in Community Service. There's no requirement for community service to gain admittance to college, but just about all college-bound high school students have jumped on the bandwagon, volunteering throughout the local community. It seems to be one of these unwritten rules that applicants who volunteer many, many hours in the service of supporting others will become a key campus activist. Regardless of the importance for admission to college, most experts agree on the value and self-fulfillment people get in helping others. 7. Insightful and Well-Written Essay(s). Of all the 10 items on this list, the essay either gets the most attention or the least respect -- depending on who you ask. Like some of the other 10 elements on this list, not all colleges require an essay as part of the admissions application. The essay -- or essays -- are a tool used by some universities to learn more about you and why you want to attend their school. Definitely take the time to carefully consider the questions and write, edit, rewrite, and proofread your essays -- with an eye to what the essays reveal about you and your personality. Some admissions counselors admit that an amazing essay can push a marginal applicant into the accepted student group. Learn more about college essay writing in our article, Writing the Successful College Application Essay. 8. Quality Recommendations from Teachers and Guidance Counselor. The recommendation letters that you ask your teachers and your guidance counselor to write can play a key role in your college application. Ideally, you have a few favorite teachers -- teachers who not only know the quality of your work and academic acumen, but also can talk about some of your personal qualities. It's best to ask your teachers for letters as early as you can so that they have the time to write a quality letter; obviously the most popular teachers will need even more time if they have requests from many of their students. 9. Relevant Recommendations from Professionals and Others. One other nice touch -- especially for a college you really want to attend -- is to ask a professional such as a former (or current) boss to write a letter of recommendation for you. Even better if that person has some sort of tie to the college as a donor or alumnus. Other possibilities include your supervisor from one or more of your volunteering/community service projects or a coach from one of the teams you have played for. If you have run your own business, you might ask a favorite customer to write a letter. Finally, you can also ask a family friend or religious leader to write a letter -- but personal references are not as strong as academic or professional ones. 10. Work and Entrepreneurial Experiences. While you certainly do not need to have ever held a part-time or summer job or started your own business, if you have some unique experiences, writing about your experiences can be a great essay topic as well as showcasing your professionalism and time-management skills. College admissions folks love self-starters -- applicants with a strong entrepreneurial spirit -- so proudly tell the story of your babysitting, lawn mowing, car detailing, tutoring, painting, or pet-sitting business (or whatever YOUR business is).