When planning for 2016, the staff at Oruaiti School decided it would be a good idea to spend term 4 educating the children on food choices leading into the school holidays. Principal Diane Bates thought it would be good to know why sugar is not so good for children, especially leading into such a long break where unhealthy options are in abundance.

Children have been learning why sugar is not good for them and how it affects their health. The older children in Kauri were shocked at the amount of sugar in certain drinks, especially E2 which has a whopping 20 teaspoons in it. A lot of them are going to make a conscious effort to make a healthier choice, even if it just means watering down their juice a little. Energizer Gina Harris explains that “the great thing about teaching this to children is that these messages actually filter through to the parents, because children actually go home and remind their parents about how much sugar is in the drinks they are consuming – and that can be pretty powerful”.

They have also learnt how to read food labels and now know how to determine if something belongs in the everyday, sometimes or occasional category. Children each got a typical cereal from the supermarket to work with and had to work out where it belonged using the 10 (sugar), 10 (fat), 5 (fibre) rule. Children as young as year four were able to grasp this concept and teacher Jorja Walden really found the value in this learning, where children had to think about the numbers on the packaging and then use their thinking skills to decide where the product belonged.  Following this breakfast session, the year one and two students in Kowhai were challenged by teacher Kaiya Lafotanoa to have no added sugar on their cereal next time and to also think about how we can add flavour to our cereals without adding sugar. Staff encourage healthy choices by selling things like soup, wraps, toasted sandwiches and hangi as fundraisers and the staff also incorporate nutrition and hauora into their planning.

It was the staff vision to have these sessions leading into the holidays, so they are better informed when it comes to making choices about food. If your school would like to incorporate nutrition sessions into planning for 2017, contact your Energizer for more information.