Busy Bodies, Active Minds

The Busy Bodies, Active Minds program, developed in conjunction with Path 9 of the I Care About School action strategy, is intended to encourage students at all secondary levels to stay in school and succeed. Its goal is to increase students’ rates of participation in extracurricular activities, especially for those students at risk of dropping out. It also aims to offer a wide variety of extracurricular activities (sports and other physical activities, cultural and community activities). These can help to make the school an attractive environment for young people by enabling them to do the following:

• develop a sense of belonging
• become involved in their school and stay in school as long as possible
• improve their self-esteem and concentration
• develop positive social relationships

In order to maximize young people’s participation and meet the objectives of the program, it is advisable to do the following:

• encourage students to become involved in organizing and supporting activities
• offer activities in a supervised, healthy and safe environment, at the school or in the community (as near to the school as possible)
• ensure that a large number of stakeholders become mobilized around the program
• encourage partnerships with organizations that are in harmony with the values and mission of the school