NRG @ OOSH project

How did the project come about?

Three things prompted the development of the Nutrition Ready-to-Go @ Out of School Hours Care (NRG @ OOSH) project: the success of a number of health promotion projects in childcare settings, the need for OOSHC services to meet quality assurance requirements, and the lack of nutrition and physical activity resources suitable for the OOSHC setting.

Aims and target groups

The project aimed to improve the nutritional quality and safety of food provided and to increase the opportunities for active play for children attending OOSHC.

The primary target group was children attending OOSHC services in southeastern Sydney and Illawarra areas. The intervention group was made up of OOSHC services staff in southeastern Sydney and the Illawarra.

Project overview

Project strategies included:

• Individual feedback to services on food served, food safety practices and facilities, policies (nutrition, food safety and physical activity) and activity programs
• Review and assistance with development of menus, policies and activity programs
• Local training on menu planning, food safety and policy development, as well as physical activity recommendations and practical sessions on conducting active games
• Statewide accredited nutrition and food safety training for OOSHC workers (see the Food is Fun case study)
• Provision of small grants for OOSHC services in disadvantaged communities
• Development of the NRG @ OOSH Manual, a food and nutrition manual for OOSHC services, as well as promotion of appropriate resources in consultation with OOSHC services.

Partnerships with Network of Community Activities (the OOSHC state peak body) and national peak bodies provided avenues for advocacy and training on nutrition, food safety and physical activity. Partnerships with other area health services (the Nutrition Department of former Central Coast Health and Queensland Health) ensured consistency of information and wider distribution of resources.

Outcomes of the project

An evaluation was conducted. Nutrition and food safety outcomes included:

• Improvement in the quality of food provided
• Improvement in food safety and serving practices
• Increases in the proportion of services with written policies and written records of the food provided.

Physical activity outcomes included:

• Increase in the proportion of organised games programmed and a decrease in the proportion of sitting activities programmed
• Increase in the proportion of children participating in organised games
• Almost 60% of services developing or reviewing their physical activity policy.

What worked well?

Working in close partnership with Network of Community Activities has ensured the wide and sustained availability of resources and training for OOSHC services. Network continues to print and distribute the NRG @ OOSH Manual and delivers the Food is Fun course across NSW.

Partnerships were and continue to be essential to the success and sustainability of the NRG @ OOSH project.

What would be done differently?

Specific nutrition and food safety quality assurance guidelines provided an incentive for services to participate in the project. OOSHC services would benefit from more specific physical activity guidelines, such as a recommendation for how much physical activity services need to provide each day.

Where to now?

As a result of this project, two major resources have been produced for OOSHC services. They will continue to be available through Network of Community Activities, which is printing and distributing the NRG @ OOSH Manual and delivering the Food is Fun course across NSW. The project is being repeated (and evaluated) in the Illawarra region.

Summary

This type of project is timely as it takes advantage of the momentum provided by the need for OOSHC services to meet quality assurance standards. To ensure nutrition, food safety and physical activity continues to be addressed within the OOSHC sector it is recommended that advocacy work continue with state and national peak bodies.