Kent Sport was delighted to team up with Take Pride CIC, the county’s School Games Organisers and Kent County Council’s Public Health Team to lead on the Change4life Champions Conference offering schools the opportunity to create Healthy Lifestyle Ambassadors from their pupils.
Aims
After the National Childhood Measurement Programme (NCMP) figures were released thoughout the county last year, it was clear that the obesity epidemic affecting young children was not going away. Although interventions had been put in place, there was still a need to get real ‘buy in’ from the children around the seriousness of eating healthily and taking part in meaningful physical activity. Working as a group (Take Pride, KCC’s Public Health Team, SGOs) we decided that the best course of action was to train children to teach children.
The idea behind the conference was to train up the children in the importance of living a healthy, active lifestyle by giving them examples of the damage sugar and certain foods/drinks can do to their bodies and also getting them involved in fun activities that they could take away and run in their own schools. The premise was that once they have been trained, they will then deliver an assembly to their school and set up their own ‘child-led’ Change4life Club. They will then venture out to other schools within their district to hold assemblies and train up other children so that most schools around the whole county will have their own Change4life Ambassadors.
What was involved?
The conference took place on the 18th October 2016 at the Kent County Show Ground, Detling and the schools were asked to select 15 pupils from year 5/6 to become Change4Life Ambassadors for their district.
Schools were asked to nominate Champions from individuals who would themselves benefit from being involved with a Change4Life program; such as pupils with low self-esteem, weight issues and pupils lacking in social and communication skills.
The Change4Life Champions were greeted at reception and each handed a pack containing Change4life materials and useful information. After a brief introduction to the day, the children were treated to a ‘flash mob’, explaining the benefits of healthy eating to the beats of a recent, popular song. The attendees were then split into groups to take part in different activities (via a carousel approach) such as running with a weighted life jacket or guessing the amount of sugar in a variety of different foods and drinks. They were also split up from their schools and so got the chance to work with different children and also had the chance to take part in fun competitions as well as so much more.
What were the benefits to the children and what did they learn?
* How positive habits can influence mind, body and emotions
* Taking part and leading fun games and activities
* The importance of a healthy diet and exercise
* Become a leader to others as well as a Healthy Active Lifestyle Ambassador
The training they received will be hugely beneficial to their schools, their peers and most importantly themselves. Supported by Take Pride’s Change4Life lead (via their website), the Champions will continue to develop new skills and gain new knowledge to help them become extremely successful healthy, active lifestyle ambassadors for their school and surrounding schools.
Impact and positive outcomes
* 240 children trained on the day
* Every district in Kent & Medway represented
* 16 school staff mentors trained to help the children
* Healthy Weight Teams now linked to the schools in their districts
* 14 mini conferences planned for 2017 in each district within the county
* Potential to have a positive effect on 1000s of children (dependent on numbers at mini conferences)
* Bringing multiple agencies together
Watch our Change4life Champions Conference film here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROWk_8b2Da4
www.kentsport.org/primarypremium