Archive news from the School Milk Project

Enjoy One of Your 3-A-Day of Dairy in Your Lunchbox
National Lunchbox Week is the 1-5 September 

As National Lunchbox Week approaches, The Dairy Council is reminding us to boost our calcium intake by including dairy at lunchtime. The most recent National Diet and Nutrition Survey found that many young people have inadequate intakes of calcium. So to meet our needs for calcium, The Dairy Council recommends three servings of dairy each day (3-A-Day).

Dr Judith Bryans, Director of The Dairy Council and Registered Nutritionist, said: “Dairy foods are the greatest providers of calcium in the UK diet, and consuming three portions of dairy a day (3-A-Day) is the easiest way to meet the recommended levels of calcium. By including at least one of those portions in your lunchbox you’ll be on your way to 3-A-Day.”

Milk, cheese and yogurt are the main types of dairy foods in the UK diet, and they are all good sources of calcium, which is needed for:

• bones and teeth
• nerve and muscle function
• blood clotting
• cell membrane permeability
• release of hormones
• blood pressure and enzymes

The recommended portion size depends on the Reference Nutrient Intake (RNI) of calcium for each age group. Although teenagers need a little more calcium than other age groups, the RNI of calcium for adults is 700mg/day and the recommended portion sizes to achieve this are:

• 200ml glass of semi-skimmed milk - provides 247mg of calcium
• 150g pot of low-fat yogurt - provides 243mg of calcium
• 30g (matchbox size) of hard cheese - provides 222mg of calcium

There are also many other ways to include dairy in your lunchbox; here are some tasty suggestions:

• Milk in a thermos or a small carton (flavoured milks may be more attractive for kids)
• Pot of yogurt
• Fromage frais
• Rice pudding
• Matchbox sized piece of cheese
• Cheese cubes with crackers
• Leftover macaroni cheese
• Bagel with cream cheese
• Pasta salad with cheese
• Slice of pizza
• Custard
• Cheese sandwich

To find out more about your daily calcium requirements, and how to meet them by getting your 3-A-Day, visit The Dairy Council’s website www.milk.co.uk.

Get on your bike to a healthier lifestyle at the Royal Highland Show

The Scottish Dairy Marketing Company (SDMC) took a rather literal approach to getting Scottish families moving towards a healthier lifestyle with their stand at the Royal Highland Show.

The SDMC took this year’s ‘All Walks of Life’ theme one step further by introducing a smoothie-making bicycle to the show’s Education Centre. Visitors were encouraged to get stuck into making tasty refreshments by milking Mabel the cow and mixing a fresh fruit smoothie with some energetic peddling on the specially designed bicycle-blender!

The new activity was a fun way to allow children and families to experiment with dairy products and different ways of drinking milk. Visitors to the stand were able to make fresh strawberry and banana smoothies a delicious way to include sufficient calcium in an everyday diet and maintain good bone health.

The Chairman of The Scottish Dairy Marketing Company said: “Appearing at the Royal Highland Show for the fourth time, the Scottish Dairy Marketing Company was pleased to see this new feature within the extremely successful ‘Milk Moustache’ campaign.

“Our work with the Royal Highland Education Centre has been a valuable part of the campaign, allowing us to reach an all-important audience of families and children. The aim of the smoothie bike was to get people involved, showing children that healthy drinks can be fun whilst educating parents about recommended levels of calcium intake*.”

This year there was also a new helper on hand, com’moo’nicating facts and trivia on milk and dairy.  Cybercoo - an electronic pet that children can download to their computer - was unveiled at the show. Available from the revamped www.milkmoustache.com website, Cybercoo needs feeding, milking and care from her owner and in return provides facts on nutrition as well as the latest celebrity gossip.

Children were able to try the bike as part of school visits throughout Thursday and Friday, whilst everyone else was invited to take part during the public show days on the Saturday and Sunday. Fun was had by all.

Click here to download the Strawberry & Banana smoothie recipe.

Year of Food and Farming
Since the Year of Food and Farming began in September 2007, over 27, 000 young people and organisations have pledged their support to a range of activities linked to the Year. Lots of exciting partnerships between food and farming businesses, schools and colleges have been developed throughout the Year of Food and Farming. It is hoped that these relationships will continue to be sustained for many years to come as part of the Year’s legacy, Think Food and Farming.                                                                 

Think Food and Farming is the exciting legacy project building on the successes of the Year of Food and Farming. So much has been achieved, particularly at a regional level, and Think Food and Farming will continue to promote these vibrant activities and links which are helping children and young people to understand more about where our food comes from and to involve them in memorable first-hand learning experiences. The Think Food and Farming website will be going live in September this year so keep your eyes peeled – www.thinkfoodandfarming.org.uk

During the week commencing 30 June 2008, schools throughout the country will be celebrating the amazing achievements in PE and school sport over the last year.
Dame Kelly Holmes will spearhead the week, which also aims to raise the profile of PE and school sport both nationally and on a local level.

The purpose of National School Sport Week:

• Celebrate all that has been achieved in PE and School Sport over the last year. This includes Young Peoples participation, Young Peoples achievements and talent in PE & Sport and the contribution made by young leaders and volunteers and all those enabling Young People to achieve their potential.
  
  
• Launch new initiatives and developments in PE and School Sport. This summer we will see the launch of new impetus and innovative developments in Intra School Competition as well as the launch of the National Network of Competition Managers for inter school competition.
  
  
• Profile all the amazing things that are happening in PE and School Sport nationally and encourage all school to raise the profile of PE & School Sport at a local level.

In support of this event, please download our Health Related Fitness Resource and/or place an order for the DVD and Poster Pack.

The Royal Show July 3rd - 6th 2008
Come and visit us at the Royal Show, Warwickshire Thurs 3rd-Sun 5th July 2008, where you can join in with some fun activities. You can find us in the Education Village.
We look forward to seeing you.

If you would like details of how to get to the Showground visit http://www.royalshow.org.uk

Open Farm Sunday – (Sun 1/6/2008)
And what a special day it was! 400 farms right across the country opened their gates and showed people around their farms.

Farms of every type and size got involved and offered everything from simple farm walks and tractor rides right through to ferret walking, duck racing and worm charming!

“The response from farmers and the public has been fantastic” said LEAF’s Chief Executive, Caroline Drummond “We exceeded all our expectations this year with more farmers getting involved than ever before, more people visiting their local farm and some fantastic national and local press coverage.  The enthusiasm, commitment and hard work from everyone who opened up just went to show the pride and passion farmers feel for what they do, not only as food producers but as custodians of our countryside.”  

So much effort went in to ALL the events and regardless of their size or range of activities, every single event played an important role in bringing consumers and farmers together and giving people the chance to experience first hand the sights, sounds and smells of the farm.   Huge thanks to every farmer, sponsor, visitor and helper who got involved this year and for all you did to make Open Farm Sunday 2008 such a successful celebration of British agriculture.  

Pictures from the day will appear at http://www.farmsunday.org/farmsunday08/about/farmsunday08.aspx

Make a date in your diary now for next year’s Farm Sunday on the 7th June 2009!

Active Kids Get Cooking Special Challenge 2008
Friday 23 May is the closing date for the Active Kids Get Cooking Special Challenge 2008. 

Thank you to all those teachers who have already sent in their entries, we know that there will be many more on their way in the next couple of weeks.  Why not make yours one of them?  The challenge is to ‘Create a two course meal (main and dessert) that can be shared with your friends and that use local/regional ingredients.’ 

The Active Kids Get Cooking website has lots of great resources to help you with your entry. 

Last year Wales swept up at the national awards for both primary and secondary schools. Still eagerly awaiting the first entries from Northern Ireland and Wales.
Go to: http://www.activekidsgetcooking.org.uk  

Breakfast clubs are on the menu at The Education Show
Stand no: HZ-G59

The School Milk Project and the Home Grown Cereal’s Authority (HGCA) are working together to promote the benefits of milk and cereals as part of a balanced diet for school children of all ages at this year’s Education Show at the NEC in Birmingham.

With more schools opening earlier to meet the needs of working parents, running a breakfast club is a good way of ensuring children eat a nutritious breakfast at the start of the day, preparing them for school lessons and play.

Diane Cannon, School Milk Project manager says: “This year we are particularly interested in trying to attract secondary schools.  We have already succeeded in getting school milk back into 40% of primary schools with children drinking milk at mid morning break and breakfast clubs are now slowly being introduced.  Unfortunately this is not the case in secondary schools and encouraging healthy breakfast eating to this wider audience presents us with a whole new challenge.  

“We want to promote the benefits of milk and cereal products to all children.  With more schools now opening for longer, breakfast clubs help give structure to the day and encourage a feeling of belonging for students.”

Roz Battye Market Development manager at HGCA says: “This is the first time we have exhibited at the Education Show and it was logical for us to team up with a natural partner such as milk in a way which will hopefully capture schools’ imaginations.  Today children need more help than ever with their diet to ensure they stay alert and can function all day without getting too tired.  Eating a good breakfast will help achieve this.”

Advice on how schools can start a breakfast club will be available on the stand which can be found in the Healthy Schools Zone, stand number HZ-G59.  Visiting schools will also be able to enter a free prize draw to win £50 towards starting their own club.

The Education Show is open from 9.30am – 5.00pm on 28 and 29 February, and 9.30am – 4.00pm on the 1st of March.

For further information please contact Diane Cannon at The School Milk Project on 01285 646541 or Roz Battye at HGCA on 0207 5203975.

Date for your diaries!
Farmhouse Breakfast Week – 20th - 26th January 2008

The ninth annual Farmhouse Breakfast Week will take place from 20th – 26th January 2008 (www.farmhousebreakfast.com) and promises to be the nation’s largest breakfast celebration ever, with over 1,600 events expected to take place across the country.

Run by HGCA (Home-Grown Cereals Authority) to promote the variety and provenance of British breakfast foods, the organisers are calling on chefs, schools, restaurants, cafes and producers to get involved to remind the nation about the importance of starting the day with breakfast.

‘A Great Start’ is the theme of this year’s celebration and HGCA will be encouraging everyone to wake up to a balanced breakfast as part of a healthy and active lifestyle. HGCA have also acquired the support of The School Milk Project team  who are helping to promote the week by providing FBW packs and encouraging schools to start a breakfast club, providing a healthy choice to all children.  Dietitians and nutritionists agree that breakfast is essential for starting the day and that it can boost concentration and mental performance as well as reduce stress levels.  Eating breakfast also kick-starts the metabolism and helps with weight control as it reduces cravings for mid-morning snacks.   Breakfast can also be an important source of vitamins, minerals and fibre and eating breakfast regularly may help prevent colds and flu.1

New for 2008 is a fantastic recipe booklet with a range of ideas for all occasions.  There is Honeyed Muesli Crunch for when time is short; through to Roast Tomato Toasts and home made waffles for a leisurely weekend brunch. Quick milkshakes and an energy-rich Fruity Tea Loaf are ideal for sporting breakfasts.

WORLD SCHOOL MILK DAY

How did it start? World School Milk Day is celebrated on the last Wednesday in September. This date was chosen because schools were open in all the countries surveyed during this month. The end of the month was selected to allow countries in the Western hemisphere sufficient time to prepare for this day, as in most of these countries the school year starts in early September. Wednesday was chosen as it was a school day in all countries surveyed.

The 1st World School Milk Day was held in 2000 and it has since become an annual event  Every last Wednesday in September, over 30 countries - regardless of whether they are large or small, rich or poor - celebrate World School Milk Day, demonstrating that the interest in school milk is universal. 

This year World School Milk Day was celebrated on Wednesday 26 September 2007.

The goal of World School Milk Day is to provide a particular day when attention is focused on this issue and thereby promote such programmes. Importance is lent to the event by the fact that other countries are doing the same thing, on the same day.

How is World School Milk Day celebrated? World School Milk Day is an "open" day - people are free to celebrate how they wish.  Celebrations can be at any level - from national or regional events to individual schools.  Some countries have started in a small way and have organised bigger celebrations with each passing year. Big or small, all have a common goal: to draw attention to school milk and thereby promote its consumption.

Celebrations of past years showed how creative people are in celebrating World School Milk Day.  In almost all countries celebrating the Day, free milk is distributed to children in schools. Other activities include sporting events, distribution of educational and promotional material and celebrity visits to schools; also drawing and art competitions are very popular. Often dairy companies act as sponsors of the Day and provide not only free milk but also promotional material such as t-shirts, caps, pens, posters, etc. for the children.  

Some of this year’s activity

Scotland
Claire Doyle, our Scottish facilitator visited four different schools with Charlotte the cow, the project’s mascot, joining in the salsa dancing with children from Dykehead Primary School.  The school started a milk scheme last year.

South
Dairy Farmers of Britain provided Hampshire facilitator Sharon Long with free milk to take to Waite End Primary in Waterlooville.  The children also received booklets and stickers as well as posters and milk-shake recipes.

St Mary’s CE Primary in Bentworth also celebrated with a special assembly – a copy of the project’s ‘Story of Milk’ booklet was given to every child.  The school already takes advantage of the Under 5s free milk but wants to extend milk to the rest of the school also.

Midlands
Jill Middleton in the Midlands also led a special assembly.  The school she visited is hoping to introduce a pupil-led healthy tuck shop with milk on sale every day.

 Wales
In advance of the big day, the School Milk Project was particularly busy in Wales, liaising with Welsh Healthy Schools coordinators with a mailout of bi-lingual resources across the whole of the country.

• Over 1000 School Milk Project packs sent out
• Over 6000 stickers
• Over 300 Healthy Choices packs
• Over 600 posters
• 0ver 1600 additional bi lingual education resource booklets sent out

In creating awareness of World School Milk Day we have had an additional 46 schools contact us over the past week who want to continue to promote milk drinking across the whole school – which is great news.

For advice and information on how to set up a scheme please refer to information provided on this site or give us a call on 0870 241 2693

On the farm with MDC school milk

19 primary school children from Calthwaite School visited Aikbank farm on Wednesday 27 June, home of MDC school milk facilitator, Jenny Turner.

Despite poor weather the children walked to the farm by foot and on arrival were particularly interested to see the John Deere tractor leaving the farm with a trailer of wool.

James Turner, the estate manager took the children on a walk through the farm looking at different crops, collecting samples and looking at the bee hives.

At break time the children were offered milk or water and all but one took milk.  James then explained where milk came from.  After, two Herdwick sheep were sheared and the fleece will be used in the children’s school project.  Jenny followed this with a discussion on why milk is good for you, getting the children involved with counting how many cartons a day is needed to get enough calcium for a healthy balanced diet.

Jenny Turner comments:  “Despite the wet weather the children remained engaged throughout the day and thoroughly enjoyed themselves.  Overall it was very successful.”

Diane Cannon, Project Manager of the School Milk Project says:  “This is a great example of engaging children to learn about milk production in a fun and interactive way. Jenny is an established school milk facilitator in Cumbria and has been promoting the benefits of milk to children in schools across the whole area for the past four years.  As a project we are looking to do more of this type of activity once the official Year of Food and Farming is launched on 1 September 2007.”

LONDON HOTPOT AND LEICESTERSHIRE PASTIES – KIDS MAKE A PICKLE OF POPULAR BRITISH FOODS

Chefs are being sent into schools, as part of British Food Fortnight’s recipe to reconnect children to British culinary classics. This initiative comes as new research from the Year of Food and Farming reveals that children in the UK are startlingly unaware of the origin of many great British foods*.

The study reveals a worrying gap in children’s grasp of home-grown delicacies.

• One half (54 per cent) do not know that pasties come from Cornwall
• Eighty per cent do not know that hotpot hails from Lancashire
• Most surprisingly, over half (57 per cent) do not know that haggis is a Scottish dish

Children do not even seem to know about foods originating in their own backyards.

• Thirteen per cent in the North West believe hotpot originated in London
• One in five (19 per cent) children in the South West believe that cheddar cheese comes from the Midlands, rather than its Somerset base
• Only 39 per cent in the North West know Manchester gave birth to Eccles cakes

In response to these sorts of mealtime muddles, this year’s British Food Fortnight is mobilising more than 9,000 volunteer chefs to go into schools and teach children about the basics of their national cuisine. Schools have also been invited to enter the British Food Fortnight ‘Cook for Life’ challenge, sponsored by Kenwood**, to identify schools that incorporate cookery in their curriculum in the most imaginative and innovative way.

Alexia Robinson, organiser of the British Food Fortnight, commented: “We desperately need to re-engage children with the pleasures of eating quality, fresh, seasonal and regionally distinct produce. The consequences of this lack of awareness amongst our children could be monumental – from obesity to falling sales for Great British products. British Food Fortnight is an annual mass movement to excite and educate young people about British food, and we believe we have the winning ingredients to help children get the measure of why their food matters.

The Year of Food and Farming should continue this good work during the coming months, inspiring a new generation of children about where their food comes from.  It’s encouraging that the whole food and farming industry has come together to help educate children about British food.”

The Year of Food and Farming is focused on giving children memorable learning experience around cooking, growing and seeing food produced.  From farm and rural visits to cooking, growing and work-related activities across the country, organisers are hoping to improve children’s “agricultural literacy” and transform the way the countryside is viewed, in and out of the classroom. British Food Fortnight is one of the first national initiatives on the Year’s calendar.

Tony Cooke, programme director for the Year of Food and Farming added: “British Food Fortnight is playing a crucial role in the Year by sending cooking advocates directly into the classroom. We believe this will help give children a taste for learning even more about the food chain. We need to take urgent action to educate children about the food chain to preserve the future health of our nation and the rural economy itself. We are hoping that impactful initiatives throughout the year will help excite and inspire children about their food.”

The Year of Food and Farming website, www.yearoffoodandfarming.org.uk gives details of all the initiatives taking place during the Year. Teachers across the UK have already been logging on, all looking for events, tips and resources to help recapture children’s imagination about where their food comes from and the countryside. Information on teaching cookery within the National Curriculum is provided on www.britishfoodfortnight.co.uk.  Details of chef associations that can arrange for chefs to visit schools are provided on the Teacher Zone section of the site. 

The Year of Food and Farming is launched
On Wednesday September 12th 2007, HRH The Prince of Wales became the first farmer to open his gates to support the Year of Food and Farming. 

As Patron for the campaign, he hosted a visit for more than 50 children, introducing them to the daily business of Duchy Home Farm.

A generation of concrete children
To reinforce the importance of such visits, findings from a new research study, overseen by psychologist Dr Aric Sigman, were released. 

New data indicated that a generation of “concrete children” has become cut off from the countryside, with clear risks to both their health and wider prospects. According to the findings:

• One in five pupils never visit the countryside – indicating that more than a million children across the country have absolutely no contact with the land. 
• A further 17% have only been to the countryside “once or twice”, meaning a third of children have little, if any, experience of the rural world.
• Two thirds of children with regular rural interaction say it matters where their meals comes from, versus just 40% of children who admit they never visit the countryside
• These “concrete children” are also less willing to help with meal preparation at home, and are twice as likely to admit they don’t know where everyday fruit and vegetables are grown.   

The benefits of ‘green time’
Encouragingly, Dr Sigman’s review also shows the benefits of “green time” – simply being in the countryside, school garden or a leafy environment - are significant:

• Children with views of and contact with nature score higher on tests of concentration and self-discipline.
• Exposure to natural environments improves children's cognitive development by improving their awareness, reasoning and observational skills
• Results for schools with outdoor education programmes show improved performance on standardised measures of academic achievement in reading, writing, maths, science and social studies. Classroom behaviour also showed improvements.

Get Involved
With all the gains to be had from reconnecting children to the countryside, the Year is now urging farmers, food producers and schools to register on its Megamap – www.yearoffoodandfarming.org.uk – to give pupils hands-on, memorable learning experiences that they’ll never forget.

The Food - a fact of life wesbite provides up-to-date, accurate and consistent information about healthier eating.

The website:

• provides advice, support and downloadable resources for teachers about healthier eating in school
• contains interactive learning activities for children, as well as activity and information sheets
• supports healthy schools initiatives throughout the UK, eg, Food in Schools, Hungry for Success, 5 A DAY.

The content is carefully tailored to the teaching curriculum for five to 11 year olds. The site provides interactive activities and information sheets for children to help them discover more about the food they eat. You can download classroom and lesson resources including PowerPoint presentations, posters and activity cards. The website supports practical work with food with lots of opportunities for cooking, as well as using ICT in the classroom to learn about healthy eating.

Check out the new Cooking and Food Skills module which supports primary school children learning about food preparation and cooking. Featuring 22 exciting videos which show food skills being demonstrated and easy to follow recipes being made.

The site has been developed by the British Nutrition Foundation in association with British Meat Education Service, British Potato Council, Horticultural Development Council, Home Grown Cereals Authority and the Milk Development Council.

[click here to visit the website] [click here to view the PDF leaflet about this website]