Issue 12: Spring Term 2017 |
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Deputy Mayor visits Haringey Healthy School
On Friday 27 January, Deputy Mayor for Education and Childcare, Joanne McCartney visited Gladesmore Community School in LB Haringey to see first hand some of the amazing work that the school has done with Healthy Schools London. She listened to students telling her about how they were involved in the student council; how they mentored and supported young people, especially newcomers to the school. The students also told her how much they enjoyed being at the school and how friendly, amiable and supportive staff were and how the school environment built up their confidence and self-esteem.
The Deputy Mayor toured the school taking note of the systems the school had in place for reward, effort and achievement; speaking and listening to students who had received support in overcoming challenging circumstances; and listening to how well the school supported staff health and wellbeing and how it retained extremely low attrition rates.
The Deputy mayor plans to visits schools in every London Borough in order to gain a greater understanding of the fantastic work schools are doing to support the Health and Wellbeing of their pupils as part of their work on Healthy Schools. For more information, contact your Healthy Schools London Borough Lead: www.london.gov.uk/what-we-do/health/healthy-schools-london/awards//contacts
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Helen Skelton visits two Lambeth primary schools through Eat Like A Champ
Earlier this term, Henry Fawcett Primary School and Christ Church Streatham CofE Primary School in Lambeth played host to Helen Skelton for a morning of healthy activities and an inspirational speech. The event was run as a prize for Lambeth borough after a competition which ran in November and December 2016. The children were encouraged to try new fruits and vegetables, to experiment with water infusions and to make healthy lifestyle pledges detailing a small change that they would try to stick to in order to improve their health and wellbeing.
This was then followed in each school by a presentation from ex-blue Peter presenter Helen Skelton who explained why she is passionate about encouraging healthy habits from a young age: “Childhood obesity and poor nutrition is a real problem, and Eat Like A Champ is great for teaching children about healthy lifestyles at a crucial time in their lives, when they are becoming more responsible for making their own food and lifestyle choices. The positive habits that children learn now can benefit them for the rest of their lives!”
All Eat Like A Champ materials are free, available digitally and as a hard copy toolkit. Parents, teachers or healthy schools coordinators who would like to get their school involved can get in touch by contacting [email protected]
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Eat Like A Champ 2015/2016 Evaluation Results Published
In 2015/2016, 71 Year 5 classes across 37 state primary schools in Ealing, Brent, Havering, Kingston, and Hillingdon took part in the Eat Like A Champ evaluation facilitated by their Healthy Schools London Borough Leads. The children were asked to complete a food and drink checklist at three points: just before Eat Like A Champ, 6 weeks after starting Eat Like A Champ, and 12 weeks after starting Eat Like A Champ.
Children participating in the evaluation had a net healthy eating gain of +5.8%, which equates roughly to children eating 2 extra portions of fruit and vegetables a week and 1 less chocolate bar. There were also noticeable changes in the consumption of takeaways (down 15%), healthier drinks (up 10%), and fresh fruit (up 9%). Schools with higher percentages of children receiving free school meals recorded a net healthy eating gain of +7%, compared to +3.2% in schools with lower percentages of children receiving free school meals.
Eat Like A Champ is currently developing a new digital evaluation process which can be completed by schools in a much simpler and time-efficient way than in previous years. This evaluation process is due to be rolled out in January 2018. For more information on the evaluation and its results, please contact [email protected]
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Change4Life launches new Be Food Smart campaign
A new campaign that highlights the surprising amount of sugar, saturated fat and salt found in everyday food and drink has been launched to encourage parents to ‘Be Food Smart’ and take control of their children’s diet. Without realising it, we are all eating too much sugar, saturated fat and salt. Over time this can lead to harmful changes on the inside and increases the risk of serious diseases in the future. Childhood obesity is a growing issue with figures showing that in England, more than 1 in 4 children aged 4-to 5-years-old and more than 1 in 3 children aged 10 and 11-years-old are overweight or obese.
The Be Food Smart campaign empowers families to take control of their diet by making healthier food and drink choices. The free app works by scanning the barcode of products, revealing the total sugar, saturated fat and salt inside and providing hints and tips adults plus fun food detectives activities for kids. The campaign also includes distribution of 4.6 million free Be Food Smart packs to primary aged children and their families at local events across England.
The Be Food Smart app is available from the iTunes store or Google Play. Search Change4Life for more information.
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