This article is from page 30 of the 2008-03-04 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 30 JPG
IN 2005/06 Scariff Community College’s Home Economics Depart- ment with the help of Red Branch – an international health and lifestyle consultancy – set about trying to encourage a change of attitude to- wards healthy eating and a healthy Perea (er
A survey was carried out by Red Branch to determine lifestyle pat- terns of students and the four main issues addressed as a result of this Survey were:
To increase water consumption.
To increase fruit consumption.
To encourage the eating of a healthy lunch.
To increase physical activity for girls.
Initially the vending machines were removed from the school cor- ridors and instead bottled water was for sale from the school canteen at a reduced price.
To tackle the low levels of fruit consumption a school fruit micro- business was established. Through this initiative transition year students were responsible for sourcing, order- ing, promoting and selling organic fruit. A local supplier Blue Moon Farm is used and around 4,540 units of fruit are sold per term.
Lunches were the big problem. Foods high in saturated fats, sugar and additives were the mainstay of
lunches and all were easily available from local fast-food outlets. Meet- ings were held between Red Branch, teachers and the student council to solve this dilemma. After a period of trial and error we now have a system in place which suits everybody.
Pallas Foods supply a variety of fill- ings for sandwiches, rolls and wraps. All these have been evaluated for salt, sugar and fat content and only foods that are trans fat free are per- mitted for sale, along with organic soup, smoothies and orange juice.
A group called Teenage Lifestylers introduced hip hop dancing, tae kwon-do and yoga for girls who are not into contact sports. The dancing is a big hit and is a regular feature in
school variety shows and musicals.
‘A healthy mind in a healthy body’ philosophy is promoted in transition year with a trip to an outdoor edu- cation centre for a week’s activities in October, a programme of fitness training with power bags by Fitness Solutions from Ennis in November/ December and a personal develop- ment programme in March.