Fuelling a new approach to food education.

Staggering towards that first longed for half-term break, having got the measure of your new class. The honeymoon period is nearing its end and the class rules need a little reinforcement now but their keen, happy faces are still looking for new things to learn.

What could be more essential to learn about than the importance of the food they put in their body? We are constantly being bombarded with news headlines talking about childhood obesity and its health-related impacts. We are sure you have noticed over the years in your own classroom, the impact that diet can have on children’s concentration and behaviour too.

As teachers and parents, we sometimes find this topic a tricky one to negotiate. What if talking about diets leads to a fixation on counting calories for some children or makes other children feel bad about what they eat at home, which perhaps they don’t always get a choice in. It’s a minefield!

However, there is no getting away from the fact that children need educating in this area, particularly if they are not getting this information from home.

Our Steps2Summit project yet again, solved a lot of these problems for us without having to be artificially shoe-horned in as lesson on healthy eating. Looking at what food and drink a mountaineer puts in their body for the job ahead, helps to think about the body as a machine which sometimes needs different sorts of fuel.

For example in Year 4, we look at why mountaineers sometimes choose flapjack as a useful snack. The children go on to think about how they could pack more goodness into the same recipe to give it more benefit for the mountaineer. (If you are feeling adventurous you can even go on and make them!)

Just as mountaineers need particular food to fuel their expedition, we have looked at what children need to fuel their body with for their typical day. As always, each year group has a different age appropriate lesson focus, once again hitting some of your other curriculum areas too.

There is no mention of diets, counting calories or body image it’s about making sure your body is fit, strong and healthy for what it needs to do; just like a meticulous mountaineer who must plan carefully to fuel their journey.