In short, yes! We are so grateful that schools want to address this important issue for their students, and thus, have ensured that implementation of Butterfly Body Bright is as flexible as possible. The program could sit within wellbeing/pastoral care or as part of the HPE curriculum delivery.

It is up to a school which components and when they choose to implement Butterfly Body Bright resources. Schools that want to be recognised as a Body Bright School, and receive a digital badge of recognition, are required to meet the minimum engagement, but there is certainly no obligation.

There is also no obligation to use the badge. We have developed two different digital badges, so that schools can be recognised as being ‘a Body Bright School’ or as a school that is ‘fostering Body Bright students’.

That’s great to hear! Self-esteem is tightly connected to body image and so, yes, Butterfly Body Bright is a worthwhile program for your students. It will also work well alongside any wellbeing program for that matter! We know that there are no other evidence-informed, whole school, and curriculum-aligned body image programs for primary schools – until now! Butterfly Body Bright aims to ensure students see their worth well beyond their appearance and that they learn how to take care of themselves and their body!

Yes! Body Kind Schools is an annual awareness initiative of Butterfly Foundation that provides a focused opportunity to support young people’s body image (from Year 5-12) during September. While the messages within Body Kind Schools does complement those within Butterfly Body Bright, they are different. Butterfly Body Bright offers a whole school program that allows schools to make more of a commitment, with an option to be implemented over a longer time frame. It is also specifically designed for primary school settings and covers topics more broadly and extensively (i.e., school culture, staff knowledge, curriculum, and families).

No, it is not. Butterfly Body Bright’s THOUGHTFUL theme supports the development of a healthy relationship with eating and food. It explores balanced, mindful and intuitive eating to help children understand how to eat, rather than telling them what to eat (and what not to eat!). The THOUGHTFUL lessons may be used alongside other nutrition or ‘healthy eating’ lessons or programs.

Butterfly Body Bright does not directly include lessons about physical changes during puberty. However, lessons developed for Year 5 and 6 do consider that children will be learning about, and also possibly starting, puberty. These lessons can support other puberty and healthy relationships content you already deliver to these students. Lessons for senior primary school students support children to focus on what their bodies can do, celebrate the differences and be grateful, as well as support them to manage stressors and change in positive ways. The lessons also acknowledge that everybody is different and that our bodies change differently too.

The program supports the development of a positive body image and healthy attitudes towards to body, eating and physical activity. Children are supported to become body aware, listen to their body cues and be body accepting, and supports them with tools to stand up for their body and appearance in the event they experience appearance-related teasing. The program does support positive interactions with peers and encourages help-seeking but does not include consent education.

Yes! Butterfly Body Bright has been developed to align with curriculum and, while there are activities created for every year level so that students can benefit from a different Body Bright Schools lesson each year, you can use the lessons in mixed or composite groups as follows: Foundation, Yr1-2, 3-4, 5-6. We encourage the teacher leading the activity to use their discretion to ensure that the lesson is pitched at the right level for their students.

The project team has worked hard to ensure that any imagery of people is diverse and inclusive of not only culture, but also body size and appearance. Lessons have been developed to be sensitive in language and consider children of all cultural backgrounds. Both the Staff Training and lessons do not include a lot of images of people.

For families wanting to be Body Bright, we’re proud to have translated our family tip sheets into Chinese, Tagalog, Hindi, Arabic and Vietnamese.

Schools have 12 months of full access to the program from the date your registration is confirmed (i.e., after payment has been made).

If your school decides that they no longer want the Butterfly Body Bright program, cancellation in writing is required before your invoice is paid, or within 7 days of your invoice payment. Please note, that if any of the program materials have been accessed, we unfortunately cannot offer a refund.

If you have questions or concerns, we encourage your Body Bright Lead to contact the Butterfly Body Bright team to support positive implementation of the program within your school. We’re here to help! Remember, it’s a flexible program, so it can be implemented in lots of ways.

The annual registration for Butterfly Body Bright is $375 (+GST) per school. Schools receive 12 months of full access to all program content, which includes school culture guidelines, over 50 curriculum-aligned lesson plans, unlimited staff registrations to the online staff training (NESA and TQI accredited), information to share with families, and a Body Bright School Pack.

Our aim is that the role of the Body Bright Lead is an enjoyable and rewarding one. The aim is that all schools have one point of contact with the Body Bright Team, so that we can provide support to your school in a consistent and positive way. There is more information about the role of the Body Bright Lead here.

As part of the program content, the Body Bright Lead will have access to extensive information about implementing Butterfly Body Bright in their school. They will also have the opportunity to attend live Q&A webinars.

If you have questions, please contact bodybright@butterfly.org.au

We get it! School staff have a lot to do and not a lot of time to do it! While the Body Bright Lead does play a significant role in helping the program roll out in a school, the Butterfly Body Bright project team are here to help if this proves difficult. It’s also OK if you choose to nominate more than one Lead. The program has been designed to be flexible, so it can work in all schools – school settings are different, just like children’s bodies! If you’re not clear on the role of the Butterfly Body Bright Lead, please contact us and we can talk you through it bodybright@butterfly.org.au

The Body Bright Staff Training is estimated to take approximately 4 hours for staff to make their way through the 5 compulsory online modules. However, the time of completion depends on individual staff with some taking more or less time to complete the training.

It is recommended that the training is completed over a few sittings, rather than in one block.

Of course, we would love all staff to jump on board the Butterfly Body Bright train, but we respect that not all staff will understand ‘why’ it is important, or feel they have time (or energy) to take on something new. The program has been developed to be flexible so, if only some of your staff are keen to implement the program, that will still have a positive impact. Perhaps in time, other staff will understand the aims of Butterfly Body Bright and change their perspective!

Yes! The Body Bright Schools online staff training provides an overview of the important information and concepts that underpin the six Body Bright themes. Therefore, it is important that staff have a strong understanding of the topic prior to delivering the lessons with students. This ensures the lessons are delivered in the way they are designed.

The Body Bright Staff Training is accessed through an online learning management system. The Body Bright Lead from a registered school is responsible for registering their school staff who will complete the training. This is done simply by filling in a spreadsheet template with staff details and sending it to the Body Bright Team (more details are within the Body Bright Lead online portal).

Schools of any size are able to register for Butterfly Body Bright.

To be eligible for a Body Bright digital badge, the current minimum engagement has been developed considering a medium-sized primary school. If a school does not have the number of staff to meet the minimum engagement requirements, this does not make the school ineligible as we can make modifications for small schools.

If your school is concerned about minimum engagement, or anything that may be making you feel hesitant to register, please contact the Body Bright Team so we can talk things through. The program is flexible and inclusive, and our aim is to help all Australian primary schools, no matter their size, become a Butterfly Body Bright school. Please contact bodybright@butterfly.org.au

Yes, we are delighted that our Body Bright family tip sheets are now available in Chinese, Tagalog, Arabic, Hindi and Vietnamese. These are available for free on the resources page.

We would love the support of families to help advocate for the program in their children’s primary school. Within the Butterfly Body Bright Families resources there is a suggested email template that you can use to share the information about the program with your primary school.

Eating disorders are complex physical and mental illnesses and develop due to a range of biological, psychological, and environmental factors and, so, we do not claim that Butterfly Body Bright will stop eating disorders.

Butterfly Body Bright aims to support the development of healthy and positive attitudes to the body, eating and physical activity, and our aim is that, should Butterfly Body Bright be fully integrated into a school, it will increase a child’s resilience and strengthen their protective factors against body dissatisfaction and disordered eating - which may reduce their risk of developing more serious body image and eating issues during adolescence.

Butterfly Body Bright has been developed to be inclusive of all students; it is strength focused and adopts a ‘do no harm’ approach. Butterfly Foundation is an organisation that supports people experiencing eating disorders and body image concerns, so we truly do it ‘get it’. The program addresses the known risk and protective factors in an age and developmentally appropriate way, and does not discuss serious body image issues or eating disorders within the lessons.

Children experiencing, or at-risk of developing, serious body image concerns or an eating disorder may respond differently to some of the discussion questions based on what they are thinking, feeling or experiencing. Within the resources for staff, there are tips to help navigate responses and questions.

We recommend that all schools advise their families if they are implementing Butterfly Body Bright and, in the event a family is concerned that the program may be triggering for their child, they are welcome to contact the Butterfly Body Bright project team at bodybright@butterfly.org.au

If you need information about how to support a student experiencing an eating disorder, or talk through concerns about a child, we encourage you to contact the Butterfly National Helpline. The Butterfly National Helpline is a free and confidential service that is operated by highly trained counsellors www.butterflynationalhelpline.org.au

Butterfly adopts a ‘do no harm’ approach with all our projects and services. The program is strength-focused, and content has been developed across the six themes by a range of leading experts. We know that different things affect children differently, for a range of reasons, and school staff may not always know what is going on with a child in their classroom.

If a child does respond in a concerning way, this may alert you to the fact that they are struggling, and it is important to provide your staff with the tools and skills to intervene in a sensitive and appropriate way. There is information within the online staff training to support staff in the event they are concerned, and the lesson plans offer tips to navigate tricky responses and comments. If you are concerned about a student, we encourage you to visit the ‘Concerned About a Child Page’

It is a sad reality that there may be more people experiencing (or have previously experienced) an eating disorder in your community than you realise. You may also have staff member who is caring for someone; a child, sibling, partner, parent, or friend.

All staff are supported to deliver the program in their professional role. It is important that staff maintain clear boundaries with their students and do not disclose specific details about their eating disorder. Guidelines on safe communication about eating disorders recommend that eating disorder education is not delivered in primary school settings, and this includes sharing information about lived experience. It is important that staff members refrain from sharing specific information and details about their eating disorder behaviours, weights, volume of activity or share other numbers because this information can be problematic for vulnerable young people. This is important for the safety of the staff member as well as the students. The nature of the lessons and the discussions does not lend itself to sharing of personal details from staff or students, in relation to serious body image concerns or eating issues.

If you, or someone on staff, requires support for themselves or a loved one, we encourage you to contact the Butterfly National Helpline. The Butterfly National Helpline is a free and confidential service that is operated by highly trained counsellors www.butterflynationalhelpline.org.au

Should you/they wish to learn how to share their story safely (in other settings), they can visit www.storiesfromexperience.com.au/how/ or visit the Butterfly Share Your Story page, to learn more www.butterfly.org.au/get-involved/share-your-story/

Butterfly Body Bright has been designed for primary school education settings, but if you are a professional who works with children under the age of 12, and you’re keen to support their body image then we encourage you to refer to the Butterfly Body Bright Families resources, that are freely accessible here.

You may also like to check out the Butterfly Education programs that have been available in the community since 2007. Content is appropriate for professionals working with (or soon to work with) children and adolescents, late primary and secondary school. Butterfly offers a range of resources to professionals that can support knowledge development, as well as offers a range of resources. Please click here for more information.