It’s simple. Froglogic has changed EastFront Public School in a multitude of positive ways and without this incredible program, my school would not have had a vehicle for success that allowed us to earn the lofty designation of ‘world’s healthiest school. David Rutherford, founder of Froglogic, through his book ‘FieldManuals For Kids, vol. 1 ‘Get Squared Away’’ initially provided me with anessential framework and tool for successfully confronting the epidemic of childhood obesity and student disengagement. Using the Eight Missions from this book in conjunction with the character education virtues embraced by the Upper Canada District School Board, my staff successfully delivered a dynamic integrated healthy living and character education program that is lacking in many of our schools across North America. Starting with the goal of having all of our students adopt physical training as a daily habit, we created daily pt sheets comprised of calisthenics that could be differentiated and done in limited space environments. We modeled these exercises as an entire school body and recognized exemplary student achievementwithin the realm of our healthy living and character virtues through our ‘Froglogic Recruit of the Week’ initiative. The momentum for the program dwarfed by lofty expectations and soon we were conducting school-wide Missions that afforded our staff and students the opportunities to demonstrate excellence within the life entities of ‘Self, Others and Community.’ Whether our focus reaching out to sexually abused children and families through our Drive for 75 [East Front Public Schoolhad over 100 stakeholder participants and raised over $5000 for the Children’sTreatment Center] or teaching Froglogic to Kinsmen Public School, a school in Cornwall for mentally and physically challenged students, the Froglogic Programand its accompanying philosophy served as the foundation for our success. With the program now entrenched in the culture of my school community, in September 2008 I challenged my staff, students , parents and community partners to do something spectacular in the area of wellness. I created Mission G to both honour the legacy of Canadian Hero Terry Fox and to provide some lofty mileage targets for the participants: 23,400 km for my staff and 36, 000 combined km for mystudents , parents and community teams. The results of this year long Mission have exceeded my expectations for the students and school community teams admirably completed 39,318 km and my staff is currently within 1000 km of hitting their 23,400 km target. Many Individuals have embraced their wellness at levels previously foreign to them and these success stories can all be linked back to the essence of East Front’s Froglogic program – deeds, not words.
Stay fired up!
Kieran Kennedy Principal