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Primary education

Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

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Original poster

Fun nutrition classes at school

21 replies

nutritionista · 01/04/2019 18:44

Hi ladies!

I'm just wondering, as mums, would you see value in a visiting nutrition expert for say a one-off class on child nutrition, vegetables, fruit, food groups, cuisines - presented in a fun, interactive, hands-on way?

I'm a nutrition coach myself and would really love to try this route, but just thought I'd get some opinions first )

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Original poster

nutritionista · 01/04/2019 18:45

Thanks in advance for all responses!

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PurpleDaisies · 01/04/2019 18:46

If it was free, I’m sure you’d get takers.

Hollowvictory · 01/04/2019 18:47

My kids would enjoy it but I don't think the school would have the funds to pay for it. They do cover healthy eating anyway, mine have made French food this week

Thatsnotmyotter · 01/04/2019 18:49

I’m not sure how it could all be covered in one session? Sounds like a good idea in theory but there is so so many misconceptions about ‘healthy eating’ that would need to be addressed. I would also be skeptical about what ‘brand’ of healthy eating is being presented. A lot of the Change for Life stuff is horrendous for example and that’s supposed to be national guidance!

PurpleDaisies · 01/04/2019 18:52

I’m not sure how it could all be covered in one session?

Why would you have to cover the whole of healthy eating in one session? These visiting people are more about getting the children enthusiastic and involved in whatever topic it is than teaching them loads and loads.

Thirtyrock39 · 01/04/2019 18:53

The problem is you'll mainly get parents coming who are already on board with healthy eating and nutrition.

PurpleDaisies · 01/04/2019 18:54

Have I misunderstood? Were you talking about running this for children or parents?

HeadsDownThumbsUpEveryone · 01/04/2019 18:59

I don't think any school I've working in would have the funds to pay for such a class so I'm not sure how viable it would be. I wouldn't have thought there would be a need either especially when all the information is freely available and the teachers themselves could lead the lesson.

DerbyRacer · 01/04/2019 19:12

I would be interested if it could help me with my son's nutritional needs. But he has a restricted diet so would have to be a one to one thing just for me and him, not a class.

cariadlet · 01/04/2019 19:20

As a primary school teacher I know that children would enjoy it and that it would be worthwhile, but I also know that there is no way that we have the budget to pay for something like this.

cariadlet · 01/04/2019 19:22

Reread all posts and realised that I may have misunderstood.

If it's aimed at parents then the ones who turn up would probably be the ones who don't need it.

DerbyRacer · 01/04/2019 20:29

Oops just realised this is a school thing. Please ignore my post

Original poster

nutritionista · 02/04/2019 11:02

Hi ladies!
Thank you so much for all your comments, they are very useful. I guess my main step is to contact the schools and see what they say! But yes, I did consider that budget restrictions would be an issue. I’m open to doing free classes, but will see if I can fit this in with paid work.
And yes, I’d like to clarify that I was talking about classes for kids, not parents. My approach is more inclusion (of good foods), rather than exclusion. Getting the little ones to appreciate vegetables a bit more, to learn of different types and where they come from - through games, participation, etc. And perhaps something a bit more age-appropriate and informative for older kids.
I wasn’t aware if nutrition was already taught at schools, it certainly wasn’t taught at mine.

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cariadlet · 02/04/2019 12:30

I wasn’t aware if nutrition was already taught at schools

It should be taught as part of the PSHE curriculum and in Key Stage 2 it's also part of the science curriculum.

The ideas you have sound good. We had some people from Tesco to do a similar thing and sometimes there are local NHS initiatives.

reluctantbrit · 02/04/2019 12:52

DD did something like this in Primary school, it was part of a scheme called Life Bus which covered various topics depending on age. No idea how this was funded, we had it each year in KS2.

They then deepened in in lessons with their normal teacher.

One thing though backfired - they were suddenly all about how bad fat is. But fat is a good thing for growing 7 year olds (I think she was either 7 or 8) and some children suddenly refused to eat anything like yoghurt, cheese, some meats and fish.

Children at that age take things face value. It needs to be explained very carefully that there are differences, that you need to eat certain things as they also contain other vital nutrition. That a pan fried piece of salmon is different from deep fried fish & chips. And the fact that children need a different diet to an adult.

babysharkah · 02/04/2019 12:58

I think if you want to launch some kind of business you need to do some research. Nutrition is covered in KS1 and 2. We also have local sugar smart initiatives already running. It's highly unlikely schools would have funding for an external provider.

Original poster

nutritionista · 02/04/2019 13:48

Thank you very much guys! I’ll contact schools directly and see what response I get, then take it from there. As for children taking it at face value, I totally agree. It is important here to know the difference between talking to a child and an adult. And older children/teenagers can also be susceptible to body image issues, so I wouldn’t want them to start going on extreme diets and cutting out foods, especially when they are still growing and changing.

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BringOnTheScience · 02/04/2019 14:14

Can I recommend that you look at the national STEM Ambassador network?
www.stem.org.uk/stem-ambassadors
Free to join. They'll do your DBS check for you for free and induction on things like safeguarding. They also have existing resources so you can see what's already out there.

Look at the national curriculum so that your offer fits. Even if you give your time for free, schools still have to fit it in to a packed timetable.

Then find a friendly local school who will let you practice & make mistakes! Being an expert on a topic doesn't necessarily mean that you can teach it to 30 8 year olds all at once

nelsonmuntzslingshot · 02/04/2019 14:20

My Children's school does this once a week for an entire term, from Yr1 onward. They use an outside company to deliver the teaching. DD absolutely loves it and she has learnt a lot about the importance of looking after herself (that than me banging on about it all the time)

Thirtyrock39 · 02/04/2019 15:50

I would be very surprised if schools fund this I'm afraid - I thought you were aiming it as free sessions for families
The thing with this is it really is parents you need to be targeting for it to be effective as the children aren't the ones shopping for and cooking meals at home and there's already loads out there from change 4 life to dietician led family cooking sessions
My kids school have asked parent volunteers to run cooking lessons and had to do years of fund raising for a cooking area in school - this is the situation you're up against

nuttybutter · 02/04/2019 18:45

You do need to do research. Nutrition is already on the curriculum and not many schools have the time or the funds to pay for extra lessons that teachers are already delivering.

We've had visitors coming into school charging hundreds of pounds only for it to become clear that they don't have much experience with children and don't know how to keep them all engaged. They panic when they have to deal with difficult children.

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