The Passport to a Healthier You club, originally called the Forres Academy Fit Club, was set up to encourage pupils who were not participating in any physical activities to adopt a healthier lifestyle.
The Active Schools coordinator and the school nurse led the development of the club, which meets two lunchtimes a week. Membership of the club has grown to 35. Not everyone attends each session, but most are seen once a week.
Initial sessions encouraged the members to become more active through participation in activities chosen by the pupils. These included:
- basketball
- parachute games
- badminton
- circuit training
- social chat sessions to discuss matters raised by pupils.
Further activity was encouraged by team building games with staff from the school drama department and the opportunity to sign out pedometers, so that pupils could record distance covered in a day. This was part of the personal record keeping that formed a key element in encouraging participants to take responsibility for their own lifestyles.
Recording sheets are also provided to record:
- physical activity (pedometer record, skips, ball games, swimming, other)
- weight change (weekly)
- eating diary (separate sheets for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks)
- body measurements (confidential measurements kept by the school nurse).
The use of these recording sheets for weight and fat measurements is voluntary.
In recognition of the importance of eating habits in relation to health, the Active Schools coordinator, who is also a home economics teacher, was keen to encourage pupils to eat healthily. This led to a Confidence to Cook taster session in June 2005.
Confidence to Cook
The Confidence to Cook programme was developed by NHS Grampian and introduced to Forres Academyby the Active Schools coordinator. The initial evening taster session involved the participants from the Passport to a Healthier You club helping to cook for their parents and carers, who were invited along.
After the initial session, pupils were given the opportunity to sign up for an eight-week course. Fifteen pupils were involved at the start; 11 regular attendees (six boys and five girls) from P7 to S4 signed up for the course, which ran from September to November.
The main aims were to:
- help the participants recognise sensible eating
- raise awareness of the exercise/eating balance (how near are you to achieving the balance of good health?)
- increase physical activity
- raise confidence.
At the end of the eight-week programme, parents and carers were invited to an evening session when participants cooked for them. The attendance of many family members (at least two adults attended with each pupil) is one indicator of the success of the project.
To spread awareness of the project, a Confidence to Cook Recipes book was produced; this includes an awareness-raising questionnaire on the balance between eating and exercise.
Further information on the Confidence to Cook programme can be obtained from: NHS Grampian Healthpoint, 239 High Street, Elgin IV30 1DJ (tel: 01343 545246).
