Healthy Eating and Healthy Weight
Developing good eating habits as a child has been shown to have significant impact on adult behaviours later in life and healthy eating; more than physical activity, has the greatest impact on achieving and maintaining a healthy weight for both adults and children. Childhood obesity data in Somerset remains critical with more than a third of Year 6 children either overweight or very overweight. While parents have the foremost responsibility to monitor their children’s diet and weight and influence their eating habits and lifestyles, schools have a key role to play in providing good quality school meals and education about food.
Obesity Rates 2022/23 Reception (4-5 years)
- Somerset 9.4% children are obese
- England average 9.2% (Eng. worst 14.1%)
Obesity Rates 2022/23 Year 6 (10-11 years)
- Somerset 20.6% children are obese
- England average 22.7% (Eng. Worst 31.7%)
This equates to:
- One in five children in Reception is overweight or obese (23.5%)
- One in three children in Year 6 is overweight or obese (34.6%)
Resources to help support Healthy Eating
Healthy Somerset has lots of information around healthy eating including top tips for eating on a budget, making your food go further, healthy recipes, and food leaflets.
Healthy eating (healthysomerset.co.uk)
The Healthier Lifestyles Team has produced a Healthier Choices for a Tasty Lunchbox leaflet - Lunch box.pdf
The Eatwell Guide shows the different types of foods and drinks we should consume to have a healthy, balanced diet. It divides the food we eat into 5 main groups. It can be used in schools, settings and at home to plan meals and understand a healthy diet.
Better Health aims to help families improve their diet and increase their levels of exercise. They also produce guidance and activities that schools can use to promote children staying active during school holidays on their specially designed School Zone pages.
Healthier Families - Home - NHS (www.nhs.uk)
https://campaignresources.phe.gov.uk/schools
Food a fact of life provide resources for teaching young people aged 3-16 years about where food comes from, cooking and healthy eating
The website has recently launched its Roadmaps which cover healthy eating, cooking, and where food comes from for teaching children and young people across the key stages - Food – a fact of life Roadmaps for all Key Stages (KS1,KS2,KS3,KS4) - healthy eating, cooking and where food comes from - Food A Fact Of Life
There are lots of resources to support teaching about eggs, fish, barley and oats which have been recently added to the website. These join the existing resources on dairy, potatoes, meat and cereals. To access these resources for the ages you teach, click: 5-7, 7-11, 11-14 or 14-16.
