Glasgow school dares to go SUGAR SMART at festive fayre

SUGAR SMART Glasgow, led by the North Glasgow Community Food Initiative (NGCFI), has focused on work with primary schools in the North Glasgow area where diet-related ill health rates among children are higher than the city average.

Following Chirnsyde Primary students’ participation in SUGAR SMART challenges for the launch of the campaign in 2017, the school decided to lower the prevalence of sugary snacks and drinks at their annual Christmas Fayre.

Staff, pupils and parents agreed to only sell sugar-free products in their tuck stall, when historically it would sell a range of high sugar sweets and drinks. The school did not sell any sweets or sugary drinks at all, and instead offered water, tea, coffee, diluted juice and crisps. The parent fundraising group was supportive of the reduction in sugary offerings, which showed a huge improvement in attitudes from previous years. Water offered at the school was rebranded “Melted Snow” in keeping with the festive theme.

Some of the parents had attended the SUGAR SMART launch event in September 2017 and were motivated to change how much sugar they give to their children, with one saying it was an eye opener and made them think differently.  The School Nutrition Action Group (SNAG) have also launched a "Rethink your drink" campaign to discourage the consumption of sugary drinks in and out of school. 

As part of the SUGAR SMART work at Chirnsyde, the P7 class also took part in cookery classes delivered by Lizzie Panagiotidou, Food Hub Coordinator at NGCFI and registered dietitian. The classes teach the children cook healthy recipes with no sugar from scratch and give them skills that they could use in the future. 

SUGAR SMART is a campaign of Sustain and Jamie Oliver. It is the feature campaign of the UK's Sustainable Food Cities network until mid-2018.