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 .

This webinar was held in February and was recorded and will be available to watch back on the Anna Freud Centre YouTube channel in a few weeks. You can subscribe for new content notifications.

Useful links from the session

• Value, Money and Me - online books, games and resources for families to learn about money: Click Here.
• Love Food Hate Waste - put the name of the food that you need to use up, and it will give you a list of recipes to use that food:Click Here.
• For low-cost recipes: Click Here
• Join the National Centre for Family Learning for Free: Click Here.
• Money Helper high-quality support and advice: Click Here.

Xplore is a Family Lifestyle Programme aimed at helping children and young people who are over the healthy weight range and between the ages of 4 and 13 to move more, eat well and feel good. This free 8 week programme supports families to make sustained lifestyle and dietary changes. For more information and to book on, please contact Xplore.Barnet@gll.org

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.

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!