Why a food survey? The team at Savvy Kids would love to hear from parents, teaching professionals and those responsible for promoting healthier living and learning what they think is missing from food and health education. By completing this questionnaire you will make an important contribution to the debate on food education at schools, and ultimately how young people will manage their future food lives. Take the 2 minute survey now >>

 

• Do all tomatoes taste the same?
• Is there such a thing as a healthy cake?
• How does food affect your mood and concentration?
• And what should you eat for beautiful hair and skin, or to do better at sports?

With food and physical activity related health problems on the rise and the knowledge-behaviour gap at an all time high, it’s never been so vital to support children’s understanding of the link between nutrition, wellbeing and achievement.

Help is at hand!

Savvy Kids is a food and lifestyle education initiative for children aged 5 – 18, their parents, teachers and the wider school community.

The fun, interactive, classroom based workshops revolve around taste, the experience of eating, the food chain and the social and physical importance of good nutrition and physical activity.

We can deliver bespoke support to your school in gaining and maintaining Healthy Schools status whilst meeting the demands of the curriculum.

It is the smart alternative for busy Head teachers, PSHE, Healthy Schools and Health Improvement Coordinators who are responsible for promoting healthier living and learning.

The programme

The enquiry based learning materials aim to raise awareness of the link between food, mood, behaviour and achievement and encourages children to develop a holistic and sustainable approach to nutrition and physical activity.

Savvy Kids is structured around 3 themes:

1. taste, including hands-on experience with food
2. nutrition, physical activity & health
3. food quality & provenance  

The Savvy Kids programme is delivered as

• Training workshops, aimed at teachers, Healthy Schools and Health Improvement Coordinators and school nurses, to show how the materials can be linked to the curriculum as well as provide a platform to discuss the wider issues around food education and to share best practice

• Talk, cook & eat (after school) workshops, for up to 15 children; whether a child is vegetarian, pre-diabetic, suffers allergies or just loves food and creativity, this is an activity packed course that will give children and parents a deeper understanding of food & nutrition and lay the foundations for healthy eating and cooking. Parents are welcome and are encouraged to join in some classes too!

Sustainable: the programme can be embedded in the long-term health curriculum of schools. Savvy Kids can provide CPD workshops for teachers, a pupil mentoring programme and involve the wider school community. All supported by a social marketing based communications strategy.

Flexible: Savvy Kids can be delivered as part of the curriculum in subjects such as PSHE, Design & Technology and Science or as part of an after school programme.

Convenient: Savvy Kids provides lesson materials and equipment as well as monitoring and evaluation materials.

What kids have to say about Savvy Kids

Pupils at a London primary school said:

'I thought that the Savvy Kids' lessons were great because they were enjoyable, fun and interesting' - Danielle

'The best thing in Savvy Kids was tasting all the different foods and I hated some food, but at the end of the day I liked some of them' - Ciaran

'I enjoyed tasting all the different foods and I really enjoyed it all' - Ciara

'The best part is when we ate the food and did the experiments about food.' - George

'I enjoyed it. My favourite task was when we got to see how much we ate of each food group over the week.' - Keira

'I enjoyed Savvy Kids because we got to taste new foods that I had never tasted before' - Lauren

They are now savvy enough to recognise good food when they see it!

Who we are

Savvy Kids is the brainchild of Monique Borst and Dr Tara Finnerty. They are supported by a team of professionals including a nutrition scientist, psychologists who specialise in eating behaviour & the role of learning and educationalists.

Monique is an entrepreneur and the founder of Savvy Cook, www.savvycook.co.uk, a meal delivery and kitchen keeping service for busy people who want convenience without compromising taste & nutrition. Monique believes that knowledge and enjoyment of good food should be established as one of the cornerstones of a caring, healthy society, and she is passionate about helping children to acquire sufficient understanding to make well-informed decisions about their diets and lifestyles. You can find Monique’s profile on www.LinkedIn.com/in/moniqueborst.

Tara graduated in 2003 with a BSc, first class hons, in Sports Science & Health from Dublin City University. She then went on to qualify as a teacher and subsequently completed her Ph.D, which investigated the physical activity and dietary habits of children in London. Tara is currently undertaking post-doctoral work within the health related research field whilst offering consultancy to schools and private organisations on physical activity and diet and is a contributor to FitPro magazine, the NCEF national fitness news journal and Complete Nutrition magazine.

Monique and Tara feel strongly about the link between good food – exercise, mood, behaviour and achievement and want to share their passion and knowledge to inspire children and schools about the importance of a healthy lifestyle.

Monique and Tara are both independently selected members of The Future 500 network www.courvoisierthefuture500.com, as rising new talents in the fields of science, food and innovation.

Our current funding partner

We are supported by Unltd, an organisation which was founded by the Millennium Commission and funded by proceeds from the National Lottery. UnLtd is a charitable organisation set up by seven leading organisations that promote social entrepreneurship.

UnLtd - the Foundation for Social Entrepreneurs - wants to support and develop the role of social entrepreneurs as a force for positive change in the United Kingdom. In the short to medium term UnLtd will achieve this by providing:

• Awards to social entrepreneurs
• A UK wide Fellowship of people who have received awards
• Research into the impact of social entrepreneurs on society
• UnLtd Ventures

UnLtd is a registered charity, number 1090393

Want to be savvy too?

Find out how Savvy Kids can make food and healthy living teaching fun, educational and less of a challenge

email info@savvykids.org.uk