What’s the big idea?

• Healthy eating events can be a great way to celebrate, have fun, fundraise, and bring the school and the local community together.
  
• Other events from birthdays to parents' evenings to football games should be opportunities to reinforce the healthy eating message rather than undermine it.
  
• Healthy eating events can be as big or as small as you like, from a single assembly to an event for all the schools in the area.

Many schools organise theme weeks as occasions to have fun at the same time as involving everyone and focusing learning on the particular issue. Health weeks during the Grab 5! pilot project proved very successful.

We did it!
One of the highlights of the Grab 5! project in Raynville Primary was their health week. It was a very enjoyable and effective way of motivating and engaging children in a whole range of health related issues, including Grab 5!. A week was identified when a focus on healthy living would fit into the current school curriculum. A full staff meeting took place to introduce the ethos of Grab 5! and to discuss the health week a month in advance of the event. The learning mentor circulated materials and activity ideas for staff to consider when making their plans. She also contacted outside agencies to arrange visits from Asda staff, a chef, the school nurse and a farmer. School governors and parents were written to and invited to join the events. Activities that took place included:

• A healthy tuck shop run every morning selling fruit, cereal bars, orange juice and bread sticks (as a result of its success, the tuck shop was continued after health week, run by parents every morning from 8.30-8.45am)
  
• Competitions - classes chose to decorate a Grab 5! carrier bag, design a healthy sandwich (Year 4 only), design a healthy school lunch menu, design a Grab 5! poster, or complete a Grab 5! fruit and veg quiz.
  
• A 'Ready, Steady, Cook' assembly led by a chef from a local restaurant.
  
• Fruit and veg tastathons for parents and children on two afternoons
  
• An assembly on health led by school nurse
  
• A visit to a local supermarket
  
• An assembly led by Asda staff
  
• An assembly led by a representative from the Women's Farming Union
  Curriculum work

The cost to the school for running the week was negligible; outside speakers didn't charge, the fruit and vegetables for tasting were donated and the tuck shop paid for itself.

"We will do the same again next year but will aim to involve the school kitchen staff more in planning with possibly a 'healthy dinner day'"

Some schools do not have the time to organise a whole week focussing on healthy eating but can run very successful health focus days instead.

We did it!
Sudbourne School discussed Grab 5! at a staff meeting. Every classroom teacher chose a Grab 5! related activity to do with their class in the morning. Some teachers chose creative activities such as drawing fruit and vegetables, poems and essays. Others selected practical activities like making fruit kebabs or smoothies. All classes spent some time creating displays for the classroom and corridors. In the afternoon the school came together for a Grab 5! 'harvest festival'. The head gave a small talk, songs were sung, and representatives from each class explained to the rest of the school what their class had learned in the morning. All the children were given a small piece of fruit (satsumas or small packets of raisins) and a helium filled Grab 5! balloon to take home.

Sandford Primary School invited parents and pupils to their 'Health for Life' morning. Local organisations such as the School Nurse Service filled the hall with a lot of health related activities, including fruit tasting, a healthy fruit raffle, a stall selling fruit juice and a health related tombola. Aerobics and Tai-chi classes for adults were also run.

An event held at the end of the school day for parents and children can be used to promote Grab 5! and stimulate parental as well as pupil awareness of its aims. Popular and easy activities at launch events are:

• Smoothie stalls
  
• Fruit and vegetable tast-a-thons
  
• Vegetable box and fruit basket raffles
  
• Helium-filled Grab 5! balloon give-aways
  
• Colourful displays

We did it!
Macaulay Primary School, Stockwell Primary School and Walnut Tree Walk Primary School all organised afternoon launch events. As well as the activities listed above, they provided handouts giving information about Grab 5! and Macaulay School also used the event to invite parental involvement in schemes such as growing clubs.

A presentation in assembly on nutrition, the importance of a healthy diet and the key Grab 5! campaign messages (see the Grab 5! Curriculum Pack, 'What is the Grab 5! campaign') is an ideal way to launch a Grab 5! activity. To raise the profile why not invite an outside speaker? People to consider include:

• A community health professional, e.g. dietitian, dentist or nurse.
  
• A local food business, e.g. chef, farmer, or person who works in a food shop.
  
• A local celebrity, e.g. from a sports club or the arts.

Alternatively, you may want to ask a class to do a presentation or drama show around the theme of healthy eating. It could become a weekly event.

We did it!
Sandford Primary School invited the Leeds Rhinos Rugby Team to one of their assemblies. The coach and two of their squad joined the children in the playground and had healthy snacks with them. In assembly they discussed the importance of a healthy diet and the restrictions placed upon their members - how they are fined if they cheat!

Taste as many different varieties of apple as you can find. Make apple cakes and pies and have a cake sale. Bob for apples.

We did it!
Austin Farm Primary School held an 'Apple Day' where children were encouraged to bring or to buy an apple. Those children who did so were allowed to wear green and red to school that day.

Info bank 12: Celebrate Apple Day

Invite a chef to school. Ask them to demonstrate a recipe containing fruit or vegetables in a class or an assembly. Make sure everyone gets a taste! Include the recipe in your school newsletter, ask the caterers whether they can adapt the recipe for school lunch.

Healthy Harvest Festival. Make harvest festival baskets that include items from each of the four main food groups and information about the balance of good health. Decorate the school with fruit and vegetables.

Strawberry fair. Turn your summer fair into a 'strawberry fair'. Sell bowls of strawberries and cream or ice cream and strawberry sundaes.

Halloween. Pumpkins are easy to grow if you have the space. Make pumpkin lanterns. Serve pumpkin soup at lunchtime. Make pumpkin pie.

Christingle. Make christingle candles from oranges and decorate with pieces of fruit (not sweets!) to represent 'the fruits of the earth'.

Mardi Gras/Carnival/Shrove Tuesday. Make fruit head-dresses and costumes and have a parade. Taste Caribbean fruit eaten at carnival. Make pancakes and fill them with fruit.

Japanese New Year. Traditionally families place satsumas on their household shrines as an offering to the Shinto gods. You could make a school shrine symbolising all the important things about your school.

Sukkot. Build traditional festive huts, decorate them with fruit and flowers and learn about the Jewish festival.

Food at parents' evenings, plays and concerts. Maybe the caterers can provide samples of their healthy meal choices, or a class that has been studying healthy eating provide some dishes.

School picnic. Combine sports day with a healthy school picnic. Have smoothies and fruit for refreshments. Have 'fruit and spoon' races.

Parties and celebrations. Don't forget about healthy eating at end of term parties, birthdays and celebrations. It doesn't have to mean fizzy drinks, crisps, sweets and cakes. How about: Finger foods like celery, carrots, baby corn, cucumber, cauliflower, radish, peppers… To dip into avocado dip, hummus, peanut butter, cottage cheese, tomato salsa … Sandwiches filled with tuna and apple, peanut butter and banana, cottage cheese and celery, sprouted seeds and cheese... Munchies like raisins, nuts, dried apple, banana chips... Fruit like melon slices, grapes, strawberries, lychees, and cherries... Fruit Punch made with fruit juice and fizzy water.

More Information The Academy of Culinary Arts may be able to put you in touch with a willing chef through their 'Adopt a School' scheme. Contact them well in advance on 020 8673 6300, www.academyofculinaryarts.org.uk. Or try your local catering college. Chain Reaction Theatre Company provides theatre performances and workshops on a range of issues, including healthy eating. A show for primary school children 'Food 4 Thought' is designed to promote the importance of a balanced and healthy diet. It incorporates drama and song, whilst children are educated on food types using key words. Three schools in Lambeth had visits from Chain Reaction during the pilot phase of the project which proved to be an extremely popular and worthwhile experience for pupils and teachers alike. For more details phone 020 8534 0007 Cook Au Van is a mobile restaurant and art gallery staffed by a team of chefs/artists that ran day-long events for Grab 5! schools in Leeds during the pilot phase of the project. Days started with a presentation by the Cook Au Van team during the school assembly followed by cooking in the morning and art workshops in the afternoon. Then, at home time, food cooked by the children was served to the rest of the school and their parents from 'Cook Au Van' which had been decorated with the children's healthy eating inspired artworks. The days were enjoyed immensely by everyone involved and were extremely successful in raising the profile of the project, promoting the Grab 5! message and engaging the children and parents. For more information and prices for Cook Au Van hire contact Julian Gillespie at cookauvan@hotmail.com, 07961434980. Women's Food and Farming Union has a panel of speakers who can talk at schools. The talk can be used as a follow-up or an alternative to a farm visit. Speakers are provided at no cost to the school. 01398 361212, www.wfu.org.uk. Info bank 1: Get your hands on some fruit and vegetables, info bank 6: Stay safe, info bank 9: Healthy recipes, info bank 7: Make a publicity splash, info bank 13: Buy local produce