Public health 5-19 - healthy eating and healthy weight

Our public health 5-19 service can support or enhance your schools with healthy eating provision along with providing 1 to 1 support for parents and carers using the E-School Nurse Service.

Food and nutrition are essential parts of a healthy lifestyle, and it is best that these healthy eating behaviors are introduced and embedded at an early age.  Schools have a key role to play in this in a number of ways, including provision of nutritious and balanced meals for their pupils, education about what constitutes balanced healthy eating, and the origins of what we eat and why we should or shouldn't eat it. 

Eating well is essential for children in their early years to ensure healthy growth and development.

For weaning ideas visit Recipes and meal ideas NHS Start 4 Life

The Essential Guide to feeding and caring for your baby is a fantastic resource for new mothers and families. Essential guide to feeding and caring for your baby - Real Baby Milk

Here you'll find activity ideas and resources to support the teaching and learning of food with young children. Activity ideas for 3 to 5 years - Food a Fact of Life

Little Foodie is a fun and evidence-based organisation with a range of information, support and recipes. Healthy eating factsheets - Little Foodie

For support with fussy eating visit Fussy eaters - NHS

This resource is to share tips and tools with parents and professionals to help establish healthy eating in children Child feeding guide - Loughborough University 

The Learn Play Eat mobile app gives you food play ideas, games and activities to do at home. You can help your child make friends with food, which may help them overcome food phobias, selective eating and ARFID. 

Fussy eating in children webinars - NHS - series of webinars by NHS specialist paediatric dietitians to help guide parents when feeding children who exhibit fussy or restricted eating habits.

Teens need extra nutrients to support bone growth, hormonal changes and organ and tissue development, including the brain. 

The NHS provide information on the importance of healthy eating during the teenage years. 

Your teenager might want to take much more of a leading role in cooking now - which is great, the Teenagers - Let's Get Cooking at Home website provides lots of information for them to do this. 

BBC Good Food Guide. Find out what teenagers need in their diet to stay happy and healthy, plus top tips to encourage a positive relationship with food and manage comfort eating. 

British Nutrition Foundation provides nutrition and diet information during the teenage years, and includes Frequently Asked Questions on common concerns for teenagers. This information may be useful if you are a teenager, or someone interested in teenage health. 

Whether you have a toddler or a teen, here are five of the best strategies to improve nutrition and encourage good eating habits.

  • Have regular family meals
  • Serve a variety of healthy foods and snacks
  • Be a role model by healthy eating yourself
  • Avoid battles over food
  • Involve everyone in the process.

Change4Life is here to help your family be healthier and happier. Find out more about what's really in the food your family eats. Food facts - Change 4 Life

They also have a host of recipes for Meal ideas meals and Lunchbox ideas.

Let's get cooking recipes - British Dietetic Association

Jamie Oliver's website has a family food hub  full of exciting tried-and-tested recipes, inspiration, ideas, tips, tricks and nutrition advice to help you feed your family well, ensuring they're the best they can be.


Childhood obesity and excess weight, are significant health issues for individual children, their families and public health. It can have serious implications for the physical and mental health of a child, which can then follow on into adulthood. The numbers of children who continue to have an unhealthy, and potentially dangerous, weight, is a national public health concern.

Obesity is also associated with poor psychological and emotional health, poor sleep, and many children experience bullying linked to their weight. Obese children are more likely to become obese adults and have a higher risk of morbidity, disability and premature mortality in adulthood.

Resources

All children and young people should engage in moderate to vigorous intensity physical activity for at least 60 minutes and up to several hours every day.

Vigorous intensity activities, including those that strengthen muscle and bone, should be incorporated at least three days a week.

All children and young people should minimise the amount of time spent being sedentary (sitting) for extended periods. (CMO 2011)

Resources

 Title  Date  Size
1/12/2017 42k
1/12/2017 116k
16/11/2017 613k
16/11/2017 404k

Parent and Carer Teaching Resources

DfE Packed lunch workshop pack (PDF 1532k)

DfE Packed lunch school guidance (PDF 1886K)

PH5-19 Parent packed lunch workshop power point (PDF 4308K) (Please email your PH Nurse for this power point)

PH5-19 Parent packed lunch power point short presentation (PDF 4080K)(Please email your PH Nurse for this power point)

PH5-19 Packed lunch parent survey(PDF 123K)

PH5-19 Packed lunch parent quiz (PDF 183K)

PH 5-19 Packed Lunch Leaflet (PDF 752K) 

PH5-19 Lunch Box Ideas (PDF 652K)

PH5-19 Lunch Box Recipes (PDF 565K)

PH5-19 Lunch Box Jokes 1 (PDF 28K)

PH5-19 Lunch Box Jokes 2 (PDF 28K)

PH5-19 Lunch Box Jokes 3 (PDF 28K)

PH5-19 Breakfast parent/carer leaflet (PDF 174K)

PH5-19 Fruit and vegetables parent/carer leaflet (PDF 132K)

PH5-19 Healthy eating parent/carer (PDF 174K)

PH5-19 Exercise parent/carer leaflet (PDF 113K)

PH5-19 Water parent/carer leaflet (PDF 166K)


Pupil Teaching Resources

Primary

PH5-19 Healthy eating and packed Lunch Pupil Powerpoint (PDF ) (Please email your PH Nurse for this power point)

PH5-19 Healthy eating presentation (PDF 1299K) (suitable for use in 1:1 work)

PH5-19 Packed lunch survey (PDF 169K)

PH5-19 Fruit tasting worksheet (PDF79K)

PH5-19 Vegetable tasting worksheet (PDF 81K)

PH5-19 Eatwell Quiz (PDF 620K)

Secondary

PH5-19 The Breakfast Quiz Survey (PDF 226K)

PH5-19 The Breakfast Quiz (PDF 83K)

PH5-19 The Breakfast Quiz Answers (PDF 156K)

Staff Training Resources 

PH5-19 Whole school approach staff training presentation (PDF 2007K)

 Title  Date  Size
19/07/2022 161k
19/07/2022 175k
19/07/2022 145k
19/07/2022 138k
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19/07/2022 224k
10/10/2017 948k
10/10/2017 451k
10/10/2017 1948k
10/10/2017 194k
21/09/2017 10531k
6/09/2017 1521k

NHS health weight calculator

Change4Life school height and weight checks 

School height and weight checks advice and information page

NHS Choices Healthy Weight

Healthy weight information and advice for parents/carers with very overweight children

NHS Choices Eatwell Guide

Information on the Eatwell Guide to achieve a healthy balanced diet

Active Cumbria

A website to support people living in Cumbria to be physically active as part of everyday life

Change4Life

A website full of information from the Change4Life campaign; to help families eat well and maintain a healthy lifestyle

Weight Concern

A website which offers support to address both the physical and psychological health needs of overweight people

Health for Teens

Healthy eating and exercise advice for teenagers. Also has advice on lots of other subjects e.g. feelings, health, lifestyle relationships.

Cumbria Partnerships NHS Foundation Trust - health priorities

Has factsheets covering lots of health topics.

Slimming World

British Nutrition Foundation

Lots of advice about nutrition, includes information on healthy eating and nutrition courses

Teen Weight Wise

A site for 13 to 18 year olds

The Caroline Walker Trust

Information about healthy eating with useful picture guides of portion sizes for people of different ages, from weaning to adult.

Kooth online counselling

Free online counselling for 11 to 18 year olds