School children across Enfield were encouraged to eat more fruit and veg during Healthy Eating Week (11-15 June) as part of a campaign designed to get them to adopt a healthier diet.
Schools across the borough are working with Enfield Catering Services to encourage youngsters to eat healthily and find out more about different fruits. Pupils were served interesting fruits and smoothies to help them achieve their 5 a day.
The initiative supports Enfield Council’s Healthy Enfield Campaign which aims to encourage residents to adopt a healthier diet and more exercise in an effort to reduce the risk of long term and preventable health conditions such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease and cancer.
Enfield Council’s Cabinet Member for Children’s Services, Cllr Achilleas Georgiou, said: “School meals are a great way of helping children achieve their five a day. We know the huge health benefits that regularly eating a variety of fruit and vegetables can have, so we’re really keen to catch children as early as we can and teach them the importance of a good diet so they can develop good eating habits and maintain this throughout life.
“It’s vitally important that children eat well, good nutrition supports good health and eating good wholesome food helps a child’s development and aids concentration levels in the classroom.
“Enfield Catering Service serves around 20,000 meals a day of a consistently high quality which are freshly cooked on site, using high quality and ethically-sourced ingredients, so that they can provide the best possible standards of nutrition.
All pupils in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 are eligible for free school meals and children from families in receipt of certain benefits or on a low income are also eligible.
The service currently provides catering for 55 primary, six special and two secondary schools in the borough.
For more information about school meals, email enfield.catering.services@enfield.gov.uk.
To register for free school meals you should ask at your child’s school or call the pupil benefits office on 020 8379 5367.