Schools Promoting Healthy Eating

Healthy Living Week

I presented my first workshop to Park Way Primary School, Maidstone in July 2005. After two days working in school working with the children and staff I was both exhausted and exhilarated. Here's the letter I received from the head teacher.

A ‘Teenage Survival Cookery Course’

A very happy Jo, cooking pancakes.

I presented a six session course for a small group of students at Cedars School in Maidstone. For the final session I encouraged students to chose and cook their own recipes.
 

It was a great success with everyone cooking a variety of dishes ranging from delicious Italian bruschetta to light and fluffy pancakes with a tangy mango and mint couli.
 

“The course has been well planned, good fun for all involved and of real benefit to the students. As well as learning to cook the course has helped each student with developing their social skills, their understanding of each other and their self esteem. It was evident as the course progressed, so did their confidence.” Liz Furner, Deputy Head, Cedars, Maidstone

Figs and Seeds

I enjoyed spending a day at St Marks, a village school in Eccles, just outside Maidstone.

Through the day, I presented workshops to each year group. The children were all very interested in the different foods I took for them to try and a guessing game of 'Name the mystery fruit or vegetable' went down well, with the children quickly becoming competitive.

A fruit salad was made then devoured in record time while sampling different types of fruit proved to be a real winner. One of the mums told me her children were now insisting on trying different fruits each week.

These workshops were presented in the autumn. To compliment the seasonal fruits I took along dried fruits including figs, dates, sunflower seeds and pumpkins seeds. The children were surprised and delighted to try these, marking them as clear favourites for lunch boxes in the future.

“Deborah visited us during our Science week at St Marks CE Primary school. The children took part in lots of activities based on food. The children in Key stage 1 developed their knowledge of fruit and vegetable and the practical activities were great fun. All the children had a chance to taste lots of different vegetables and they relished the opportunity to play with the food and investigate it further by making pictures using the vegetables. A fantastic time was had by all children and staff during the day and we would highly recommend it.”
Clare Fullagar, Teacher, St Marks.

A workshops for parents and children

After spending the day presenting workshops to the children at Lady Boswell School, Sevenoaks, I had a booking with parents. I'd been asked by Sarah Lacon, Head Teacher, if I would run a workshop for parents to help take the message of healthy eating home.

I presented the workshop straight after the school day. With parents plus children in mind, I included lots of games to keep everyone happy. Families worked together to decide what foods belonged in each food group, then came up with ideas of what to cook for Dr Who if he decided to visit at tea time.

The children invented plenty of excellent meal ideas while everyone enjoyed the colourful pasta salad that I demonstrated.

Sarah Lacon, Head Teacher, is happy to recommend my workshop. Please contact her on 01732 452851

Crazy Art with Reception classes

Is this art work to good to eat?

I happily took the message about healthy eating to a reception classes at Madginford Park Infant School, Bearsted, where I encourage the children to learn about food through exploration and practical activity. Focusing on fruit and vegetables, they loved the colourful presentation of fresh produce I provided. Playing with the food is an approach I use widely, as I find it helps children to become confident and ready to experience new foods.

There is a serious message to these exciting sessions, as they help children to make the right choices about the food they eat. Plus it introduces healthy eating at a young age, helping to set up good eating habits for life.

The following day I received a thank you call from Erica Heather, Deputy Head to say how much they all enjoyed the workshops and what a positive experience it was for everyone.

I Like BEETROOT

I enjoyed spending two days at Leybourne School presenting workshops to all the children. They had a wonderful time trying and tasting the wide variety of colourful fruit and vegetables that I presented to them.

One young lady discovered beetroot for the first time and just couldn't stop herself eating the lot!

The children really took on board the healthy eating message and parents commented the following morning on how much their children had enjoyed themselves.

Celebrate the World of Food

Do you know your sushi from your soy? Can you tell the difference between miso and mirn. The children at Mereworth School found out the answers to these and lots more questions when I presented a creative workshop centered on foods from different cultures around the world. These workshops formed part of a week of activities focused on exploring different cultures.

Everyone had a fantastic time discovering new varieties of foods. The children really liked miso soup as well as enjoying hot and spicy mooli. Sauerkraut didn't go down so well while the different breads, plus Mediterranean foods were gone within minutes. The day finished with happy children who can now taste their way around the world!

In the NEWS

I spent a day at Senacre Wood School in June, busily presenting six workshops for each year group. The youngest participants enjoyed the Crazy Art workshops, while the older children had fun guessing the hidden vegetables. Everyone tried and tasted masses of colourful fruit and veg, while Year 6 made a Fabulous Fruit Salad which they promptly ate!

The local press arrived and we all had our photo in the paper. A busy day for all involved!

“Debbie's workshops were absolutely wonderful! The children from reception class through to year 6 learnt about different foods and their nutritional values through a range of games, quizzes and food tasting. Debbie tailored each workshop to suit the ages of the children and was very enthusiastic in her approach. Highly Recommended!”
Lisa Davidson, Family Liaison Officer, Senacre Wood Primary School, Maidstone.

Fair Trade and Organic

Spending the day at Temple Ewell CE Primary School, Dover I presented five workshops to all the children. As the school is quite small some of the years were combined. However, because my workshops are flexible, I was able to arrange the duration and content to manage these groups.

We had an interesting, fun day playing with, tasting and talking about different foods. I included work on Fair Trade and Organic foods, as I had been told this was something the children were keen to learn about. They were also were very excited to hear about non-chemical methods of pest control including the gory story of how nematodes help to control slugs and snails!

A World of Play

This multi cultural event was organised by Medway Council Early Years. Education practitioners from across the area were invited along for the day to take part in a variety of different workshops. This gave them the opportunity to gain new ideas for play to take back to their workplace. I presented Celebrate with Food and the World of Food.

People who took part in my workshops got creative when they were asked to make up celebrations of their own that included food. People came up with some winning ideas including a Pie Day, which (of course) included custard pie throwing and a Strawberry Day which involved eating plenty of sweet juicy strawberries. Everyone had a chance to tastes different foods from around the world including some special St Lucien bread that I had baked fresh that morning.

Health and Fitness at school

Longmead School in Tonbridge decided to spend a week focusing on healthy living.

As it was summer time there was plenty of fresh produce to choose from. I included sweet juicy melons, soft peaches, spicy radishes and plenty of green leafy vegetables. The children were delighted to try the variety of fruit and vegetables that I brought with me. As so often happens, many children found something new that they liked.

I also presented an after school workshop for parents. As a parent, I know children can be fussy with their food, so I try to show that it's not difficult to keep kids eating well. Examples I give include beans on toast. As a quick, easy, tasty meal for after school, it's hard to beat. Just make sure it's granary bread and forget to butter it before you pile on the beans!

This session ended with the parents sampling my tasty, nutritious, made in minutes, pasta salad.