Leadership

Obesity, Healthy Eating And Physical Activity In Primary Schools

By the start of primary school, almost a quarter of children in England are overweight or obese. This rises to over a third by the time children leave Year 6. Obesity in children starting Reception has risen for the second year in a row. This Ofsted research looks at the actions primary schools are taking to reduce childhood obesity.

Obesity in children happens for complex reasons. However, the messages reaching children need to consistently reinforce the importance of choices that lead to better health. Without this, the attractions of sugar, fat and inactivity will more often win the day over healthier choices.

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      string(466) "... Birmingham primary schools.This school-based intervention encouraged healthyeating and physical activity in and out of school andpromoted local leisure opportunities with newsletters andsignposting.Families, schools and communities were identified asthree key targets for the programme.In families, activities and skills were promoted, ratherthan health factsheets. In schools, opportunities for ..."
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      string(5774) "socio-economic status.The focus groups discussed barriers to interventions.These included lack of time – for teachers, parents andchildren. People said leisure activities can be costly –especially in large families. People said they needed moresafe, open space for their children to run around in. Theparticipants also warned that changing cultural attitudeswww.teachingtimes.com n Vol 1.3Focus on: Obesity Every Child Journal67would be difficult – some ethnic groups accept obesitysocially, and some Muslim parents disapprove of mixed-sexsports.Three key targetsThe BEACHeS project targeted around 600 children aged 5-7through eight Birmingham primary schools.This school-based intervention encouraged healthyeating and physical activity in and out of school andpromoted local leisure opportunities with newsletters andsignposting.Families, schools and communities were identified asthree key targets for the programme.In families, activities and skills were promoted, ratherthan health factsheets. In schools, opportunities for PE werecarved into the saturated curriculum. In the community, therewas signposting and some use of rewards and incentives.These components were predominantly verbal – with afocus on developing practical skills. The need for a sustainedand inclusive approach was emphasised, involving thechildren in decision making. The focus was ‘healthy lifestyles’– not ‘obesity prevention’.Increasing physical activity in schoolsTo increase physical activity levels during the school day, weintroduced a range of activities to help the children reach therecommended 30 minutes.The ‘Wake up, Shake up’ campaign encourages 5-10minute bursts of exercise once or twice a day. Participationrates were good and most children enjoyed the sessions.The children were also encouraged to join organisedlunchtime games. School staff and lunchtime supervisorswere given training to run these sessions.The final initiative was adopted from an American ideacalled ‘Take 10’ – where parts of the curriculum are taught ina way that involves physical activity. The teachers were giventraining.Encouraging a healthy dietMany of the focus group participants said school food wasnot a priority for the intervention – as there are already severalnational initiatives targeting school dinners. The focus groupssaid parents need education on diet, cooking and nutrition.So cooking skills workshops for parents were introduced inschools.Two workshops run by the NHS’s ‘Foodnet’ were tested– a five week course called ‘Cook and Taste’ for parents andanother called ‘Cook with Kidz’ for parents and children. Inboth workshops, participants were taught to prepare andcook healthy meals. These sessions were reinforced withhealthy recipes in the school newsletter.Increasing physical activity outside schoolIncreasing activity during the school day is only the first step.Children also need to move outside school.Children from deprived areas are at the highest riskof obesity – partly due to the financial barriers to leisureactivities. Therefore, another component of the interventionaimed to increase awareness of affordable, accessible leisureopportunities in the area.The children were told about local leisure events inthe school newsletter and community signposting. As anincentive, the children were given sticker collection charts,and received a sticker every time they attended a venue orevent. Prizes were offered for those who collected the moststickers. This worked well initially, but was let down by lack ofinvolvement from the leisure facilities. This emphasises theneed for full community involvement.Parents were also invited to take their children toweekend taster sessions in football, cricket, archery andclimbing. These sessions were free and free transport wasmade available. But surprisingly, attendance at these tastersessions was poor at the start of the school year. Trips toEdgbaston cricket ground were by far the most popular– showing the need to choose culturally appropriate sports.‘Villa Vitality’ is a programme run by Aston Villa footballclub and local Primary Care Trusts. Children take a day offschool to visit the ground and get coaching sessions andhealthy eating lessons. The children get to make a radio showin a studio about healthy lifestyles, then keep a recording.Villa Vitality was one of the most successful aspects of theBEACHeS project, with near full attendance from the childreninvited. There was very positive feedback from all whoparticipated – including many reports of increased activityoutside school.Community walking programmes were led bycommunity volunteers trained as ‘walk leaders’. This was theleast successful part of the BEACHeS project – due to lack ofvolunteers.But walking is still a great way to incorporate activityinto the day. Research has shown that walking at a moderateintensity can lower CVD risk as effectively as cycling, runningand swimming. It is fun, safe, requires no special equipmentand is an easy way to accumulate your 30 minutes a day. Thewhole family can get involved and make it an enjoyable socialoccasion.Study outcomesOverall, the study has been promising. Preliminary resultsshow that this intervention reduces childhood obesity.Feedback from parents has also been very positive. Onefather said his son: “Swims, plays football and has taken upbadminton since the study began”.We can all take a few messages from this project – in68Vol 1.3 n www.teachingtimes.comFocus on: ObesityEvery Child"
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Special Needs

The BEACHES project

10 Mar 2010

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      string(5756) "being more active. They were walking as afamily and also sitting down to eat their meals together in the evening when they could.Following the second visit, the DASH Project Lead visited every month to monitorprogress, set goals and offer support, she also referred them to MEND to offer moresupport, MEND Mind Exercise Nutrition Do It is a lottery funded scheme targetingobese children and offering a ten week course comprising of one hour physical activityand one hour of nutritional guidance twice a week. These sessions take place at the localleisure centre. Unfortunately Liam’s mother did not attend this regularly, however asupportive friend accompanied Liam.After 6 months Liam’s weight had fallen by 8kg and his mum lost 9kgs. Both were sopleased and vowed to continue to eat healthily and exercise more.Now support was given every two months. Liam felt a lot happier about himself.We had set goals to achieve before he started secondary school and these had beenmet. He felt happier about his body image, his self-esteem had improved and he feltcomfortable in joining the local rugby team. The teasing had stopped.The DASH Project Lead visited Liam for a one-year review at his new school andhe had maintained his healthy weight at 49.5kg and grown to 128cm. He was nownine years old. He was enjoying P.E, and his sessions at the rugby club. Liam is now aconfident, happy child.nInformation sourcesHealthy Weight-Healthy Lives (Childhood obesity in Somerset) – (22 Jan 2009)Department of Health: Healthy lives, healthy people: A call to action on obesity in England (October 201)1Department of Health: Strategic high impact changes: childhood obesity (April 2011)NICE guidance: Preventing obesity: A whole system approach (October 2010)nnnnhttp://www.mendprogramme.orghttp://www1.somerset.gov.uk/council/board23%5C2009%20January%2022%20Item%206%20Healthy%20Weight%20-%20Healthy%20Lives%20(childhood%20obesity%20in%20Somerset).pdfhttp://www.dh.gov.uk/prod_consum_dh/groups/dh_digitalassets/documents/digitalasset/dh_130487.pdfhttp://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_126104www.nice.org.uk/nicemedia/live/12109/48257/48257.pdfVol 3.3 n www.teachingtimes.comFamilies/practiceEvery Child Journal32Case Study 2: Chantelle’s storyChantelle attended a rural Primary School. She was obese and very shy. Her mother had always struggled withChantelle’s weight and she approached The DASH project for guidance as she was worried about her daughter beingteased and concerned that she was secretly eating and becoming very unhappy at home.At the initial home visit, Chantelle (aged 7) weighed 40kg, her height was 135cms and BMI was on the 100thcentile. At this age the average weight should be 22-34kg.Chantelle was guarded when approached but when spoken to alone she talked about how she didn’t get on withher stepdad. When her Mum and stepdad argued, she looked for solace in the fridge and biscuit jar.Chantelle’s experience is common in families when parents argue or the child feels threatened or insecure andher secret eating had to be addressed gently as mum had found lots of wrappers hidden in the bedroom.We looked at her normal diet and she agreed with Mum to fill out a truthful food and activity diary. We talkedthrough coping strategies and looked at triggers for overeating. We looked at increasing her physical activity – withthe exception of school and DASH Chantelle did not do any other physical activity. She enjoyed swimming andfinding a group she felt comfortable with was a breakthrough. Chantelle also wanted to go horse riding and her Mumknew someone who could help with this, which was very important as previously this had been out of the questiondue to cost.Chantelle loved DASH; she enjoyed the non-competitive aspect and looked after the younger members of thegroup. The DASH Project Lead visited her monthly and they set goals around healthy eating choices and physicalactivity sessions.After 6 months, Chantelle and her Mum had both lost weight. She felt a lot better in herself, but still wished tolose more weight. 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Special Needs

Fit for School

21 Dec 2012

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      string(3576) "lunch-and breaktimes and in anybreakfast clubs where theyare provided;● the school including educationon healthier eating and basicfood safety practices in thetaught curriculum.In addition, the Food inSchools programme hasalready funded the FoodPartnership project,promoting and sustainingexcellence in food educationin primary schools and futureprojects are to be announced.Schools provide anenvironment where consistenthealthy eating messages canbe potentially applied as partof a whole school approach,encompassing activities bothwithin and outside theclassroom. School basedinterventions that areintegrated into the curriculumor school health promotionactivities show promise.  Arecently completed project inOxford, funded by the FoodStandards Agency, comparedvarious types of interventionsin five- to seven-year-olds,focusing on nutrition, physicalactivity, or a combination ofthe two, with effects in acontrol (see www.food.gov.ukfor a summary of the findings).While prevention ofobesity remains the key totackling this major publichealth problem, treatment ofchildhood obesity is veryimportant as lifestylebehaviours that contribute toand sustain obesity in adultsare less well established andmay be more amenable tochange. The recommendedapproach is that rather thanattempting to cause childrento lose weight and hence runthe risk of compromisinggrowth, the aim of themanagement of young obesechildren should be to maintainor to allow a slow weight gain.Adoption of long-term healthyeating habits is better than ashort-term restrictive diet.  Alltreatment must be acceptableto the family and any activitiesshould be sustainable. Foodshould not be used as areward or bribe and parentsshould establish family mealand snack times. Parents andother carers shoulddetermine what food isoffered and when and theyshould offer an overall healthybalanced diet. It is consideredthat treatment should not bedelayed until adulthoodbecause then it is even moredifficult to achieve lastingweight reductions. The earlierthe intervention the better –satisfactory results are moredifficult to achieve in olderchildren who are less withintheir parents’ control. Newguidelines on the treatment ofchildhood obesity haverecently been published by theRoyal College of Paediatricsand Child Health (seewww.rcpch.ac.uk).Interventions thatincorporate building self-esteemcan minimise concerns aboutinadvertently provoking eatingdisorders. Care must be takennot to overemphasise bodyweight and body image whendealing with young people. Manyyoung girls perceive themselvesas under pressure to be slim.They often chose unbalanceddiets that do not meet theirnutritional needs and chronicdieting may affect nutritionalstatus.  A better approach tomaintain an appropriate bodyweight is increased physicalactivity and healthy eating.In the treatment ofoverweight and obesity inchildren it is very important tohave the support of parentsand others. But it must bemade clear that the decision totreat a child is a job for healthprofessionals. Parents shouldnot take the decision on theirown to put their children onweight-reducing diets.● Sarah Schenker is adietician at the BritshNutrition FoundationInformation about thenational nutritionalstandards for schoollunches, healthy packedlunches, tuck shops andvending machines, healthybreakfasts and breakfastclubs and the nationalfruit scheme can be foundon the British NutritionFoundation’s websitewww.nutrition.org.uk"
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Creative Teaching & Learning

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1 Nov 2006

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      string(3783) "Food for Life are joining Jamie Oliver in campaigning for the introduction of a healthy rating scheme in schools.With National Obesity Awareness Week upon us, this is a timely reminder that although there are caterers making real food for kids a priority, there is still work to be done to give the next generation a chance at forming healthy lifestyle habits.School food has been transformed over the last decade. The era of the turkey twizzler may be behind us, but the past ten years have seen a sharp increase in the availability of highly processed foods, and this has resulted in a generation of severely overweight kids.Today, obesity levels in the UK continue to grow. Over two years ago, the government vowed to tackle obesity in kids by introducing a healthy rating scheme for primary schools. The scheme would focus on promoting healthy food both in the dining hall and out, by supporting healthier eating, physical activity and the shaping of healthier habits. It would also be linked to Ofsted inspections ensuring that school food is a priority for school leadership.But one in five pupils are obese by the time they leave school, and yet there is still no sign of the promised healthy rating scheme. It’s becoming increasingly urgent that the scheme is rolled out so that we can give our kids the support they need to make healthy lifestyle choices.The healthy rating scheme was proposed in the government’s 2016 obesity plan. It would demonstrate that schools are taking evidence-based actions to make healthy choices easier for pupils. For the past decade, Food for Life has been supporting schools to take a whole school approach to healthy eating and staying active. This includes supporting schools to organise farm trips, cooking and growing clubs for pupils and their families, and serving freshly prepared meals that make good food appealing. And it works. Pupils in Food for Life schools eat a third more fruit and veg than in comparison schools, and more vegetables at home. They are also twice as likely to be getting their five a day than children in comparison schools.Rob Percival, Food for Life Head of Policy, has said: “The Healthy Rating Scheme offers a timely opportunity to fully involve all schools in the mission to halve childhood obesity by 2030, and to transform the way that children eat.The Government must show its commitment to the scheme by convening an advisory group to bring together the ideas and evidence needed to ensure that the scheme is robust and effective.”The whole school approach that Food for Life has been pioneering for over a decade means making food a central part of the school day. It proves that a whole-school approach increases kids’ consumption of fruit and veg.These are tough times for school caterers, with the cost of fruit and veg sourced by caterers soaring by 20% in 2018. Food for Life’s State of the Nation report revealed that now cold ‘pick and mix’  lunchbox options are being introduced instead of hot meals in an attempt to cut costs. “2018 will be the tipping point for school meals,” one caterer said. Healthier items such as fresh fruit and salmon are being removed from menus in favour of more affordable but less healthy items such as puddings and biscuits. Action must be taken, and Food for Life will be putting pressure on the Department of Education, campaigning with the School Food Plan Alliance and Jamie Oliver for the swift introduction of an ambitious and robust healthy rating scheme."
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Creative Teaching & Learning

Food for Life join Jamie Oliver in campaigning for healthy rating scheme

14 Jan 2019

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