Be Healthy 

 

We learn about healthy foods and we make healthy sandwich snacks

 

 

 

The personal development and well-being of the children is of the highest priority in the school.

 

 

 

 Healthy lifestyles are encouraged in the following ways:

• Children are ensured physical exercise through the PE curriculum and timetable and regular playtimes.
• They are encouraged to eat healthily, for example, we introduced a "fruit break" several years ago and this is now re-enforced by the "Fruit in Schools" initiative. No sweets/snacks are allowed at playtimes. Pupils have water bottles in class, available at any time.
• Pupils bring packed lunches which are generally of high quality and we have regular discussions with children about healthy lunchboxes. We encourage parents through the weekly newsletter, "Mells School Recipe Book" (see below) etc.
• Science and PSHE curriculum includes work on healthy eating and keeping healthy through regular exercise.
• Sports opportunities, such as swimming, netball, dance and gymnastics encourage a healthy active lifestyle.
• The recent acquisition of the new school field and the freeing of the school hall in April, will allow us to expand sports provision.
• Drug education is provide to all pupils and promotes understanding and awareness and aims to discourage misuse of drugs, including tobacco as the children grow up.

Following our teaching programmes, the majority of our pupils willingly adopt healthy eating patterns and the health of our children is generally very good.

Attendance figures are good and contact with parents regarding sick children is excellent.

 

 

The Mells School Recipe Book

 

  (Order your Mells School Cookery Book from school, £5.00 each + £2.00 postage)

 

 

 

 There are well over 100 recipes, including vegetarian meals, pages of help and advice and it is all created and illustrated by the children and families at the school, collated by Dawn Moore. Highly recommended!

Below is a sample page and some advice from the book about healthy eating.

 

 

 

 

How to Encourage Healthy Eating (an exerpt from the recipe book)

 

 

We all know that it is important to encourage our children to eat a well balanced diet and enjoy plenty of exercise but these days we are constantly bombarded with information on nutrition and health; it can be difficult to know what to put into practice.

 

The Food Standards Agency states that the messages are the same for everybody and we should all be trying to do the following things:

1)                Eat at least five portions of fruit and vegetables every day. To encourage children to work towards this goal the snack at school break time is called fruit break; children in class 1 and 2 receive free fruit each day. Children in class 3 may bring in their own healthy fruit or vegetable snack.

 2)               Meals should be based on starchy foods such as pasta, potatoes, rice, cereals and pulses such as beans and lentils. A third of our diet should be made up of these starchy foods. It is particularly beneficial to chose wholegrain foods rather than white or refined starchy foods since they contain more fibre and are digested more slowly to help you feel fuller for longer.

 3)               Eat a variety of protein foods such as dairy foods, eggs, pulses, nuts, chicken or meat.

 4)               Eat at least two portions of fish a week (obviously not if you're a vegetarian!)  including one portion of oily fish such as salmon, tuna, sardines, mackerel and trout.

 

5)               We need some fats in our diet to stay healthy but it is important to watch the type of fats we eat. We should try to cut down on saturated fats which can increase cholesterol in the blood and can increase the chances of heart disease. Replacing saturated fats with unsaturated fats can lower blood cholesterol. Examples of foods rich in unsaturated fats are vegetable oils, oily fish, olives, nuts and seeds.

 6)               Try to keep frying or roasting in oil to a minimum, try grilling, baking, poaching, steaming, dry frying or microwaving.

 7)                   Cut down on sugar - the school project on teeth helps to ensure children know that having too much sugar can lead to teeth decay, especially if eaten between meals.  Most people also know that foods high in sugar can be high in calories and eating less can help you maintain a healthy weight. It seems poignant to mention that I'm not preaching, just passing on advice - anyone can tell I'm yet to crack this particular nut!

 

8)               Eat no more than 6g of salt a day - it is useful to check food labels, where salt can be listed as sodium, and not to add salt to food when cooking.

 9)               Drink about 6 to 8 glasses of water a day, more if you exercise. Children are encouraged to drink water throughout the school day at Mells.

 10)          Vegetarians are advised to make sure you're getting enough nutrients, especially protein, iron and selenium, which can sometimes be lacking in a meat-free diet.

 11)            Eat a variety of food types in order to get all the nutrients you need.

 12)          Try to be a healthy weight - yes, I'm still blushing writing this!! It is not a good idea to be under or overweight - both can lead to health problems. You can check your optimum weight on the Food Standards Agency website or consult your doctor.

 13)          Eat breakfast; it gives us the energy we need to face the day and some essential vitamins and minerals. I'm sure most parents would agree it is particularly important to ensure children arrive at school having had a nutritious breakfast - it is difficult to focus on schoolwork when you're hungry.

 

 

Finally, try to be physically active everyday and encourage your children to get active. We focussed, last year, on improving sport and PE provision and we now enjoy access to our new field which offers even more opportunities for our children. We recently achieved our "Activemark 2008" award for providing at least two hours of PE for each child across the school.

 

   

 

 

 

We have a fruit break each day and enjoy delicious fruit and vegetables

 

 

and we make sure we get lots of exercise!

 

  try these links

 

Have a look at some of the activities in Keeping Healthy Week

 

Watch the Video!

  

Or follow this link to a great Healthy Kids website