What’s the big idea?
- Many schools offer out of school hours learning and/or childcare
on site.
- The 3:30 'after-school munchies' are a prime-time for snacking
on high sugar and high fat foods.
- Food provided after school does not have to comply with government
nutrition regulations and is often limited to 'squash and a biscuit'.
- Food club activities are a good way to link a school's focus
on healthy eating with out of school hours activities.
Start from where you are. If you already have an out of
school hours activity, include it in your whole school approach
to nutrition. If the majority of pupils from your school go to an
out of school hours activity at another school site you could also
involve it in your planning. Look at how to build on the activities
that the club already runs.
Get everyone involved. Involve children, parents and staff
in choosing and planning activities.
Decide what you want to do. Many of the ideas in this action
pack could be used in an out of school hours club setting as well
as at school. For example you could set up an after-school fruit
tuck shop or cooking sessions where children can cook-and-eat, cook-and-take-home
or even set up a café. You could plan special events like
a trip to a supermarket, a farm, a survival weekend or fruity games.
Involve others. Bring in local expertise to work on delivering
a rounded programme that helps to deliver 'food citizenship'. Nutritionists,
community health workers, dietitians, chefs, environmental health
experts etc. can all add value to a structured programme. It may
also be possible in to involve older people through organisations
such as Help the Aged or by contacting children's grandparents.
Integrate it with what you are already doing. You can link
the healthy eating theme into activities which already take place
out of school hours. For example let sports teams adopt fruity names
and make sure they get slices of their team's fruit at half-time.
Get the drama group to do mime slipping on banana skins or sucking
on a lemon or improvise a skit about healthy eating.
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ContinYou is a charity that
supports out-of-school-hours learning. Contact them on 020
8709 9900 or visit 
