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Staff from the School Nursing Team are looking forward to taking part once again in Healthy Eating Week. This is a national event organised by the British Nutrition Foundation which starts on the 15th June and is a good way of highlighting the importance of good nutrition for school children.

This year the school nursing team are visiting 27 primary schools across the Island during the week to run interactive teaching sessions with the year 6 pupils about the importance of eating a healthy breakfast. The Director of Community Nursing Cath Quilliam stated “This year we have concentrated on the year 6 children as many of them are starting to prepare their own breakfasts and it is essential that they develop the knowledge and skills needed to help them make an informed choice about eating a healthy breakfast”.

 

It is recommended that children aged 7-10 should have no more than 6 cubes of sugar in one day. A survey conducted by Public Health England demonstrated that many children consume more than 11g of sugar at breakfast time alone, which is the equivalent of 3 cubes of sugar.

 

Sometimes the advertising of breakfast cereals and bars can be misleading and parents believe they are giving their child a healthy product - however in reality they are actually giving their child a breakfast that is high sugar, fat or salt.

At the end of the session the children should improve their understanding about:

 

·        What makes up a healthy breakfast

·        How much you should be eating by investigating portion sizes

·        How you can tell if a breakfast is healthy or unhealthy by reading and understanding the food labels.  

Sonia Cowin who is a Community Nursery Nurse for the School Nursing Team said “Eating a healthy breakfast containing the main food groups including whole grain cereals (starchy foods), fruit & vegetables, dairy and protein, provides the important nutrients needed to fuel your day. Children sometimes skip breakfast which can increase feelings of hunger later in the day and can have a detrimental effect on concentration, mood and performance at school”.

 

 

Local family-run business Robinson’s, is lending The School Nursing Team a hand to help ensure the success of the event. As well as providing demonstration breakfast boxes for school nurses to use in interactive teaching demonstrations, they will be sponsoring materials for use in a ‘Design Your Healthy Breakfast’ competition, which will invite the children to either create a recipe or draw their perfect healthy meal. 

Katie Mathieson-Nelson, spokesperson for Robinson’s, comments, “We have been delighted to assist Ann and the team with Healthy Breakfast Week. Supplying fresh, high quality produce to the Island is at the heart of what we do, and we understand the value of good nutrition. We have always welcomed school visits to our main depot at Ballapaddag, and are only too happy to strengthen our community links by supporting the primary schools in this initiative”.