Sugar Smart school pupils show the way to a better diet

22 February 2018

Heathryburn School pupils today (Thursday 22 February) kicked off a month long campaign which will see them lead the way in supporting Aberdeen residents to lead Healthier lives.

The pupils are taking part as the pilot school in the SUGAR SMART programme which includes a range of activities to help transform their food environment and raise awareness of the impacts of consuming too much sugar.

SUGAR SMART is a UK-wide campaign run by food charity Sustain and Jamie Oliver, and is currently the feature campaign of the UK’s Sustainable Food Cities network. SUGAR SMART works with councils, businesses, institutions and other sectors in a cross-sector approach to help reduce overconsumption of sugar in their local areas. Aberdeen is one of 16 cities to have received SFC funding to run a SUGAR SMART campaign.

Councillor John Wheeler, Education and Children’s Services Convener, attended today’s launch assembly. He said: “Among our key outcomes for our children and young people are a sense of healthiness and well-being.

“This fantastic project ties perfectly into our ambitions for young Aberdonians and it’s great to see mums and dads taking part as well.”

Kelly Milne, Heathryburn School’s Head Teacher, said: “It’s great that we are the pilot school for this amazing SUGAR SMART project and everyone is really looking forward to taking part.

“There are a lots of activities scheduled in for both pupils and parents and we are hoping to see some really positive outcomes at the end of the programme.”

The Aberdeen campaign, led by the Sustainable Food City Partnership Aberdeen, will run activities at Heathryburn until 6 April and will include:

Pupil and parent surveys on current sugar consumption ‘Ditch the Fizz’ challenge to give up drinking fizzy juice for two weeks Poster and video making Sugar Smart quizzes, display boards and pop-up information stands Parental engagement and peer education lessons Healthy snacks delivered by CFINE’s ‘Tuk-In’ A pupil-led assembly delivered to parents