Nineteen primary schools from across Birmingham have been awarded Health for Life status at an event held in the city’s grand Council House.
Attended by Lord Mayor Cllr Mike Leddy, Director of Public Health Dr Adrian Philips and Cabinet Member for Children and Family Services Cllr Brigid Jones, the ceremony saw representatives from each of the 19 schools* presented with plaques and certificates.
Funded by the Mondelēz International Foundation and delivered by Birmingham Health Education Service (BHES) in partnership with Life Education Centres West Midlands, Health for Life aims to achieve a sustained difference in healthy lifestyles across five wards of South Birmingham.
Speaking at the event, Lord Mayor Cllr Mike Leddy said: “Well done to everyone for all of your hard work. The Lady Mayoress and I have visited several of your schools and have seen the hard work that goes into achieving such an accolade, so you should be very proud.”
The £3.1 million five year programme which supports fun activities that engage people in growing food, healthy eating and cookery and physical activity, has this year seen schools create orchards, build cookery classrooms and form eco-clubs in order to achieve Health for Life status.
Birmingham faces a big challenge around childhood obesity with one in four children in the city becoming clinically obese by the time they reach the age of 10.
Kelly Farrell, community affairs assistant manager at Mondelēz International, said: “Our Health for Life programme has shown some fantastic results in its first year and I’d like to say congratulations to everyone that completed year 2 of the programme. People think that you can’t have fun and be healthy at the same time but the students being awarded Health for Life status today have proven that it is possible.”
Dr Sandra Passmore, education adviser at Birmingham Health Education Service, added: “When schools engage with this outstanding programme we can be sure that they are making a real difference. It was inspiring to see so many schools and children involved, and to see the pride they took in their work.”
For more information about Health for Life in primary schools, please contact sandra.passmore@servicesforeducation.co.uk.