Staff from Leeds Rhinos Foundation visited Corpus Christi Primary School last week to deliver a special Healthy Eating and Living Takeover Day to dozens of pupils.
The day formed part of Corpus Christi’s inaugural ‘Think Outside the Box Week,’ which was launched by teacher Caroline Kilvington to enable children at the school to experience a wide-variety of educational experiences outside of the normal classroom environment.
“This week has enabled the children to be imaginative and innovative within different activities that go right across the breadth of the curriculum,” explained Kilvington
“We’ve been fortunate enough to receive the backing of local groups such as Leeds Rhinos Foundation, who have brought along their expertise and help the children to really embrace with what they’ve been doing throughout the week.”
Almost 100 children took part in a series of healthy activities, led by Leeds Rhinos Foundation’s Health Officer Laura Buckle and Partner Schools Officer Dane Weatherill, including a Smoothie Bike and a Fruit Kebab station.
Dane Weatherill, Partner Schools Officer for Leeds Rhinos Foundation, commented: “This has been a great chance for us to come into our partner school and provide something similar different to our regular PE lessons, whilst still pressing home important messages around health and nutrition to inspire them to be the best they can be, and hopefully create healthier citizens of the future.
“Putting a fun twist on the nutritional workshops has meant that the children have really engaged with the ideas we’ve presented. It’s also opened their eyes to the benefits of healthy eating and some of the options out there, as they may like to get their fruit through different ways like smoothies or bagels.”
With Leeds aiming to become the best city for health and wellbeing, and 34% of the city’s children aged 11 having an unhealthy weight, Weatherill realises the importance of providing a good education on the topic of healthy eating and living.
“It’s really important to get the knowledge into schools, especially at a young age. Today we’ve been teaching kids in Year 2 and Year 3 and no older than that, so the sooner you can get that knowledge into them, the more they can implement it throughout their lives.”
WATCH the video below to see more from our Healthy Eating and Living Takeover Day at Corpus Christi Primary School.