All News

Appetite for Life

2/4/2010 12:00:00 AM

Within Blaenau Gwent we have been promoting the take-up of healthy school meals, through successful taster sessions at Parent’s Evenings throughout a number of schools

Part of the implementation of A4L in Blaenau Gwent has been the employment of a local Appetite for Life Coordinator (Libby Hampton).

Within Blaenau Gwent we have been promoting the take-up of healthy school meals, through successful taster sessions at Parent’s Evenings throughout a number of schools. School meal samples are provided by Blaenau Gwent Catering and information stands are set up promoting the new A4L standards in the food served in schools, as well as recommendations for children’s lunchboxes. Children and their parents were very keen to find out more and found that overall, school meals have improved greatly over the past few years.

With the promotion of salad bars in the majority of schools since 2008, it has helped encourage the children to make their own healthy choices within school. The uptake of school meals has increased greatly, and this should hopefully be sustainable amongst the schools that have implemented the salad bars, and encourage others to take it up. Positive comments have been received, expressing the effect of salad bars within the schools, examples are listed below.

YSTRUTH PRIMARY SCHOOL

The school cook said - ’It has gone down really well with the children. They can make their own choices and we have very little waste’’.

Teachers commented that ‘’More and more pupils are choosing the salad bar option, and trying new things’’.

Pupils Comments – ‘’There are lots of healthy things to choose from’’,

‘’We get to choose whatever salad we want with our Jacket potato or baguette’’,

‘’It’s always lovely and fresh’’.

SOFRYDD PRIMARY

‘‘Our salad bar has increased in numbers, on most days the numbers equal to those for hot meals. This demonstrates what a great idea it is, and that with time it will become normal for the pupils to choose salads and that this will become their first choice’’.

The Appetite for Life Coordinator will be setting up training, starting February 2010, to deliver the OCN Level 1 in Food and Nutrition to all lunchtime supervisors. This will help enable a consistent message about healthy eating to be cascaded to pupils within school, as a means to encourage healthier choices at meal times.

Cookery clubs are continuing to be set up within schools, and reports have been very positive and encouraging. ‘School recipe files’ have been compiled and sent out to schools as a useful resource, suitable for school cookery sessions with children. Some schools have set up cookery display boards, with photos of the recipes being made, thoughts and feelings of the food cooked, and photocopies of the recipe for parents to take home.

 

Year 7 healthy eating workshops have been run within Abertillery Comprehensive School. Pupils were able to participate in smoothie making, along with working around ways of menu adaptation and the role of the ‘Eatwell plate’.

 

The eatwell plate makes healthy eating easier to understand by showing the types and proportions of foods we need to have a healthy and well balanced diet.

 

 

 

We are currently in the process of running Master Chef Competitions within the secondary schools, aimed at year 8’s, to design a unique and healthy two course meal. Prizes will be given, and guest judges will be attending for the final. The winning dish will also be served as a ‘meal of the day’ at the school for all pupils to try. Once all secondary schools from within Blaenau Gwent catering have taken part, a borough Master Chef will be held to determine the champion 2010.

 

Libby Hampton, the Appetite for Life Coordinator has also been attending school council meetings throughout the Borough to look at healthy options for break and packed lunches, along with setting up salad bars and fruit tuck shops in school. School assemblies have also been attended using the ‘eatwell plate’ as a visual guide, looking at healthy alternatives for school food.

 

Food Coops are being encouraged in schools around all areas of Blaenau Gwent. With new food coops being set up within schools it gives the pupils the chance to apply skills learned in classrooms, especially literacy and numeracy, and begin to develop entrepreneurship and business enterprise skills. This helps promote a healthy lifestyle with the 5 a day message, with the use of locally sourced produce. It also allows the opportunity for the community to get involved within the work taking place in the local schools.

Elizabeth Hampton