Europe-wide pilot project to promote healthy, balanced lifestyles

Patri Felic Sammut Primary School, St Paul's Bay, is one of seven Maltese schools chosen for the first year of a three-year European-wide pilot project seeking to promote healthy and balanced development.

A comprehensive network of 26 cities from most of the 27 member states has been created to test and evaluate the framework in participating schools involving children aged four to 16.

The other participating schools are Mosta Kindergarten; Lorenzo Gafà Boys Secondary, Vittoriosa; St Theresa Girls' Junior Lyceum, Birkirkara; San Andrea School, L-Imselliet; St Joseph School, Blata l-Bajda; and San Benedittu Boys' School, Kirkop. The local schools' participation in the project is being co-ordinated by the Education Division in conjunction with the Health Promotion Department.

The St Paul's Bay Primary's main focus this year was on encouraging all schoolchildren to bring a lunch-box with healthy food and drinks. We also encouraged everybody to increase their physical activities.

Promoting healthy habits requires new ideas to communicate the wider benefits of maintaining a balanced diet and regular physical activity. Children's ideas are central to the project's ethos, while the creativity and experience of teachers and parents are crucial for the success of the activities.

The school encouraged all children, teachers and parents to collaborate on this important project for the benefit and well-being of our children, and an ad hoc committee made up of a co-ordinator and representatives from teachers, parents and students was set up. The 800 children at our school participated actively in the project with classes ranging from Kindergarten up to Year 7 organising a variety of activities such as bringing healthy food to school, changing their drinks to juices or mineral water, preparing fruit kebabs in class, and preparing healthy dishes such as salads, soups and vegetables.

The school also encouraged all children to exercise themselves more every day, both at school, at home and in their community.

A 'Shape Up Week', including two activity days, was held during May to close the activities held during this scholastic year. On one of the days the whole school participated in a day of fun-games where the emphasis was not on competition but rather on enjoying oneself through physical activity. The games were ably organised by the PE teachers with the help of a large number of parent volunteers who manned the different stations.

On the second day the school turned its attention to having fun with food to stress the importance of healthy eating. This was organised by the teachers and registered nutritionists from the Home Economics Centre in the Education Division, with help from a group of parent helpers volunteered to prepare the food items.

Our thanks go to all who helped the school make this year's event possible, especially the Education Division, the Health Promotion Department, the Home Economics Department, the sponsors San Michel, Messrs Paolo Bonnici, Benna Dairy Products, Maypole Bakery and Tip Top, the school's administration staff and parents and other collaborators for generously helping out with our activities and making the events a big success.