Food: A Fact of Life have added six new activity packs to the website.  Each pack is based on a food theme and combines learning about healthy eating, cooking or where food comes from, with early years curriculum areas such as numeracy, literacy and physical development.

The activity packs can be downloaded from the website .

Please share this information with your families:

If you’re more than 10 weeks pregnant or have a child under 4, you may be entitled to get help to buy healthy food and milk.  If you’re eligible, you’ll be sent a Healthy Start card with money on it that you can use in some UK shops. Money will be added to this card every 4 weeks.
You’ll get:

• £4.25 each week of your pregnancy from the 10th week
• £8.50 each week for children from birth to 1
• £4.25 each week for children between 1 and 4

You will also be entitled to FREE healthy start vitamins for yourself and children.

Who can apply?
In addition, you must be receiving any of the following:

• Child Tax Credit (only if your family’s annual income is £16,190 or less)
• Income Support
• Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance
• Pension Credit (which includes the child addition)
• Universal Credit (only if your family’s take-home pay is £408 or less per month from employment)

You will also be eligible for Healthy Start if you’re under 18 and pregnant, even if you are not claiming any benefits.

How to Apply
You can apply online:  Please visit here .

How we talk about child health and obesity matters. Impact on Urban Health have developed this toolkit,  with lots of resources, focusing on the language to be used when talking about childhood obesity.

A  Sugar Smart Early Year’s Setting and School is one that takes positive, proactive action against high sugar consumption and raises awareness of the consequences of having too much sugar; for children this includes tooth decay, excess weight, and even type 2 diabetes.

If you have not already signed up to the Sugar Smart Barnet campaign, this is a great time to get involved and pledge to become a Sugar Smart setting. You can sign up on the Sugar Smart website. When you sign up, you will be presented with a list exciting Sugar Smart actions/activities that you can choose for your setting to take part in and record activity for. There is a wealth of national and local support and resources to support your early year’s setting efforts. To explore what is available, please visit the Sugar Smart Barnet website (local) and the Sugar Smart website (national).

The SMILE (School Meals Initiative for Learning Healthy Eating) project seeks to educate and empower KS1 children to make healthy food choices. The two main components of the programme are the roll out of health promoting trays designed to help children eat and learn the correct portion sizes for the main food groups for a healthy balanced diet. Alongside this are the delivery of healthy eating discussions with children and if possible parents. Taking part would of course benefit KS1 children and their parents, but as a school it could also be used for the Healthy Schools London award and contributes towards PHSE healthy lifestyle delivery. If you are interested in your school taking part in this project, please fill in the expression of interest form.  You will be informed if your school meets the eligibility criteria and/or when your school can start the project (as it is run in cohorts).

The NHS Healthy Start Scheme is for those who want to give their child and themselves the healthiest start in life. The new prepaid card allows you to get at least £4.25 a per week of food staples & check your balance at nearby ATMs with the Mastercard logo.  If you’re pregnant or have a child under the age of 4, you could be entitled to receive a prepaid card to support the cost of healthy essentials.

There are many benefits to joining the NHS Healthy Start Scheme. It could take as little 5 minutes to see if you qualify and to complete the online application form. Find out more here.

The school food standards, which were updated in 2021, are set by the Government to ensure that food provided to pupils in school is nutritious and of high quality; to promote good nutritional health in all pupils; protect those who are nutritionally vulnerable and to promote good eating behaviour. The school food standards are outlined in full detail here. The Barnet Children & Young People’s team would like to invite anyone who is responsible in school for the food provision and food standards in your school to complete a short anonymous survey (see link below). The feedback from this survey will help them to better support schools to meet the statutory school food standards and adds to efforts of building a healthy weight culture within Barnet schools. Survey link: https://forms.office.com/r/4nAJJKR3tC Survey closes on the 27^th May.

Encourage pupils to make healthier choices:

Research shows that nearly 28% of pupils in Reception are overweight or obese, rising to over 40% of pupils in Year 6.  The NHS Food Scanner app is a handy health hack to make it easier for families to find healthier food and drink options.

The new Scan, Swipe, Swap activities toolkit uses the excitement of the app to encourage young people to explore what’s in their food and make healthier choices.

Engaging AR technology brings food labels to life as your pupils scan their way to healthier swaps.
Look out for a class set of take-home leaflets being delivered with your school fruit and veg box to inspire pupils and their families to make healthier swaps at home. Want to send all pupils home with the leaflet? Simply order more here and you’ll also receive free classroom display assets and an Eatwell Plate poster.

Alternatively, call: 0300 123 1002 or email: foodscanner@prolog.co.uk

Food - A Fact of Life have developed a suite of resources for pupils with additional needs to support leaning about healthy eating, cooking and where food comes. The resources are organised into nine learning areas, each with an introductory guide and range of fully editable resources. There are also six peer-to-peer recipe videos and recipe sheets that use Widgit© Symbols. Come and take a look now!

In this review by First Steps Nutrition Trust they share information on the composition of different animal milks; revisit current dietary guidelines for milk consumption by young children in the UK; outline the potential issues of lactose intolerance and cows’ milk allergy; present data on milk consumption by 1-4 year olds; consider the nutritional contribution made by cows’ milk, and suggest that current guidance on recommended milk volumes for 1-4 year olds may need review in light of the potential risks associated with large intakes. They end by considering how well aligned the dietary recommendations for animal milk consumption in young children are with dietary sustainability.