Healthy Living
Llanyrafon Primary School Health Eating Initiative
Mud, mud, glorious mud
Rakes, worms and lots of glorious mud . . . not your conventional teaching tools it's true yet the mucky, hands-on approach is definitely working as far as getting the healthy eating message across is concerned.
Torfaen's Healthy Food co-ordinators, Rachel Elston and Sharran Lloyd, have discovered that getting young people involved in the production of their food has really sparked their interest in healthy eating.
And children who once had no idea that chips were made from potatoes are now rolling up their sleeves, digging the school allotment, and growing fresh vegetables themselves.
With catering and hospitality backgrounds, Rachel and Sharran certainly know what they are talking about when it comes to healthy eating, however their challenge was to persuade young people to give up the fast food and try more healthy alternatives.
Though still in its early stages, the allotment project at Llanyravon Primary School is already popular with the pupils because it enables them to come out of the classroom and spend time tending to the land and growing vegetables from seed.
Once their interest in food production is ignited, the pupils are encouraged to be more adventurous and try different fruits and vegetables as part of a healthy diet.
Similar projects at Garnteg Primary and Coed Eva Junior School last year were a great success.
Healthy Living Project Manager, Nicola Bowen, said: "The idea of school allotments is to start educating the children about fresh fruit and vegetables at a young age so that their generation grows up knowing how to eat healthily.
"The evaluation from last year's projects was excellent the children loved spending time on their allotments and seeing the vegetables grow from seed."
"It's practical, they get muddy and they can see the process from start to finish. It really belongs to them," added Sharran.
The school-based Healthy Living Initiatives are funded by the Big Lottery Fund and delivered in partnership with TCBC, Garnsychan Partnership & Co-star.
Torfaen Local Health Board A Guide to Local health Service
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