Case Studies
We receive a huge amount of very positive feedback from our early years settings, primary schools and local council partners. Below are a small number of recent case studies detailing how some schools and early years settings are implementing the PhunkyFoods Programme.
OUR LADY QUEEN OF HEAVEN CATHOLIC PRIMARY SCHOOL, CRAWLEY. JANUARY 2025
Our Lady Queen of Heaven Catholic Primary School (OLQOH) has been actively engaged in the PhunkyFoods programme for several years, using the online resources and practical support from their local PhunkyFoods support worker. This includes regular workshops, food preparation sessions, and the PhunkyFood Ambassador programme for Year 5 pupils.
During the Autumn Term of 2024/25, Caroline (PhunkyFoods Support Worker, Crawley) worked with several year groups delivering food preparation workshops and trained four PhunkyFoods Ambassadors to promote healthy lifestyles to their peers. The term also opened with Caroline carrying out a ‘Health Check’ with the school’s Head Teacher, Tobias Melia, as well as delivering a staff training session for all teaching staff at the setting.
Over 200 children across Years 1, 2, 3 and 6 participated in practical food prep workshops, making Fruit Kebabs, Fun on the Farm Wraps, Lynn’s Easiest Pizza and Banana and Oat Cookies, the aim being to teach children specific practical skills such as weighing, measuring, chopping and grating. The children learnt about key healthy eating messages such as striving for 5 portions of different coloured fruits and vegetables each day, the importance of a healthy balanced breakfast and what foods make up a healthy lunch that will fuel them through the afternoon and allow them to be calm, focused and ready to learn for the rest of the school day.
Year 3 explored the Food Waste topic, where the children contributed their ideas on reducing food waste to a group discussion and were then able to experience a practical example of this by making healthy cookies using browning bananas.
Twelve staff members attended a twilight session on the PhunkyFoods programme, focusing on its role in promoting healthy lifestyles and the link between health and academic performance. The session included an in-depth look at the PF website, and resources, including the new D&T and Food, Farming, and Health schemes.
The Health Check identified that a key topic area for the Ambassadors to work on this term would be ‘Bag a Breakfast’ as an increasing numbers of children arriving at school without having eaten breakfast. Four PhunkyFood Ambassadors were trained on the topic and shared their knowledge with their peers during a whole-school assembly to 420 children.
“We have been extremely lucky to have been working with PhunkyFoods for the last few years. The programme not only provides our children with nutrition education, but also enables them to practice and develop invaluable and transferable life skills such as knife safety and chopping skills. What we find so brilliant about the programme is how accessible it is for our children and their families. All ingredients used are easily found in shops and recipes are simple for children to recreate at home.
Additionally, parent workshops are offered which enables education to continue at home. Caroline has been fantastic with our children; activities are broken down and clearly explained so all children can access the learning. The life skills and information that PhunkyFoods delivers to our children is crucial in shaping the whole child and helping them to lead healthy, active lifestyles as they move on from primary school.”
Rebekah Johnson, Year 6 Teacher, OLQOH
“OLQOH places a high level of importance on its children receiving regular and sustained healthy lifestyle messaging via the PhunkyFoods programme, committing to ongoing engagement in practical workshops and whole-school assemblies, as well as annual participation in the PhunkyAmbassadors scheme. Plans for next term, include parent engagement events and introducing the new Food Explorers programme to the Early Years classes. I look forward to continuing my work in this engaged school and to allowing more children and their families to access key health education and practical skills sessions.”
Caroline Cotton, EDC, Crawley
FLIMBY PRIMARY SCHOOL, MARYPORT, CUMBRIA. JANUARY 2025
Flimby Primary School, located on the West Coast of Cumbria between Maryport and Workington, has around 130 pupils enrolled. Flimby was one of the first schools Susan worked with when she began her role at PhunkyFoods a year ago, and they were eager to continue collaborating this academic year.
The school aimed to improve parental engagement by offering a fun, non-threatening activity that families could enjoy together.
In Autumn 2024, we ran two after-school cook clubs for parents and children. The first was Halloween-themed, and the second focused on Christmas. Susan, led the sessions, assisted by Miss Baker, the PhunkyFoods liaison and TA at the school. We planned for 15 families to participate each session, and both were oversubscribed. The attendees ranged in age from nursery children to Year 6. We even had a KS3 pupil sneak in and join their sibling to make Halloween cookies. It was great to see mums, dads and grandparents working with their families.
After a brief introduction to hygiene rules, the PhunkyFoods website, and the Eatwell guide, the families got stuck into making Orange shortbread cookies to take home and bake.
“The Phunky Food sessions have been amazing and really helped with our parents joining their children in school and having fun together. Everyone seems to love attending the sessions and they all leave with massive smiles on their face. The staff at Phunky Foods have been so helpful with booking in sessions and organising themed workshops. We couldn't ask for anything more and families seem to think more consciously about their health and diet. We will continue to work with Phunky foods across the year”.
Abbie Baker, TA & Phunky Foods Liaison
“I always look forward to going into Flimby School as the families are always so keen and there is a real buzz when the door opens, and they flood in to find their places and get started. It’s doubly great to return twice in a term and hear how everybody enjoyed the cookies from the first time and to learn how keen they are to join in again. Of all the fun things I get to do working for PhunkyFoods, working with parents and children to make something fun and healthy to eat is one of my favourite things. I can’t wait to visit Flimby again next term for some more cook clubs”.
Susan, PhunkyFoods EDC – Allerdale, Cumbria.
ST. EDMUND'S CATHOLIC PRIMARY SCHOOL, CALNE, WILTSHIRE. DECEMBER 2024
This term has seen the first Family Cook Club at Saint Edmund's Catholic Primary in Calne, Wiltshire. For four weeks our local PhunkyFoods EDC has worked with four targeted families to introduce themes such as budget eating, healthy snacking, reading and using food labels, and how to make a simple balanced lunch.
Each week the sessions focus on one or two recipes, and it is a wonderful opportunity for parents to spend some quality time with their children whilst trying out new nutritious recipes. The sessions teach the basics of how to make healthy food choices, are informative and most importantly lots of fun!
A range of dishes were created over the term including PhunkyFoods Tuna Couscous, Very Berry Cheescake, Supercrunch and of course the brilliantly simple healthy pizza recipe. For the last session families made Festive Flapjacks which is great recipe to highlight Christmas flavours whilst containing no added sugar!
"PhunkyFood Cooking club for families has enabled the school parent relationships to strengthen by inviting them onsite to take part in extra-curricular activities. It has also allowed older siblings rare, uninterrupted 1:1 time with their parents which has had a positive effect on their wellbeing and approach to social interactions.
Children who have taken part have shared their learning with classmates, promoting the benefits of healthy eating and making the right food choices.
As a school we would be very keen to run the family cook club again. Staff, parents, children and volunteers have commented on the positive benefits, and we look forward to offering it to more of our community members.
With the greatest thanks - especially as you have just rocked up and done all of the hard work!”
Frances Towers, DT Lead and Class Teacher
"I love delivering Family Cook Club sessions. It is a privilege to get to know families over subsequent weeks and talk through challenges they may face at home or just share new ideas and recipes. The best thing is how much the children relish these sessions, it really supports the work Phunky Foods is doing in the rest of the school and adds to the holistic approach that is so important in affecting healthy lifestyle changes."
Laura, Engagement & Development Coordinator (EDC) – Wiltshire
HOLY ROSARY CATHOLIC VOLUNTARY ACADEMY, BURTON-ON-TRENT. DECEMBER 2024
In the Autumn Term 23/24 we were invited to take part in the PhunkyFoods Healthier Communities project. We have worked with Helen, our local co-ordinator for many years, on the Ambassador programme and this new project sounded like a great opportunity. I am always keen to involve our school in projects which are cross-curricular and the wider community aspect really appealed to me.
In mid November, Helen met with our Y5 class to launch the project. The children learned about the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, and how they can be change-makers in their own community. The children were split into groups to choose a particular goal, and to create an idea that addresses a social or environmental issue.
Helen returned in January to support the development of the group ideas, and to assist the children in preparing their video pitches. We continued to support this in school with staff helping to finalise and record their video pitches during the spring term. We were then delighted to hear that the winning group were “Illness Erasers”, with their idea of holding sports competitions to raise money for Cancer Research.
Helen made contact with local sports providers (Burton Albion Community Trust and East Staffs Sports Partnership - ESSP) who kindly agreed to support the event. In July, the children pitched their ideas to a panel consisting of staff from Phunky Foods and ESSP .
This was a great opportunity for the children to develop their self-confidence and presentation skills. Arrangements were made to progress the project in the Autumn 24/25. It made logical sense to hold the sports event alongside our annual school Macmillan fundraising bake sale on 27th September 2024. The children helped to put together a poster to advertise the event, and parents were informed of the option to make additional donations for taking part in the sports competitions.
On 27th September, when the rain finally cleared, all of our KS2 children took part in a range of sporting activities – girls / boys football events on the top yard, dance activities in the hall, followed by a dodgeball competition. It turned out to be a useful way of getting the children to burn off the energy from the cakes that they had been able to purchase at breaktime! It was wonderful to see all classes taking part and some children trying particular sports for the very first time. In total, we raised a sum of £193.20 for Cancer Research.
Marie Dyche, Headteacher, Holy Rosary Catholic Voluntary Academy
CASTLE MEAD PRIMARY SCHOOL, TROWBRIDGE, WILTSHIRE. DECEMBER 2024
Amazing Food Exploring has been taking place in Castle Mead Primary in Trowbridge, Wiltshire, this term! The children in the Nursery class have had weekly visits from Wiltshire EDC, Laura, sharing stories and recipes to encourage the children to be brave and try new foods and tastes.
The youngest children in the school; their enthusiasm has been infectious. They have made lots of wonderful dishes, from Rainbow Fruit Salads, Celeriac Remoulade to Guacamole. The children learnt how to cut and prepare the food safely and were encouraged to taste lots of ingredients. They then shared the finished dishes with their families.
It was such a success that the school are planning to invite parents in for cooking workshops with the children so that they can learn more about encouraging their children to eat a variety of foods and how to eat healthily.
“Laura is absolutely fantastic with the children. Her gentle and relaxed approach really encouraged all the children to have a go at exploring new foods. We have found the children have been much more willing to try new foods. The approach of kissing /licking has been really useful for both staff and children. They have enjoyed tasting new foods and then sharing this with families at home.
We have noticed fine motor skills have been improved and noticeable during lunchtimes when children are demonstrating confidence and skill when using a knife and fork.
Each week we shared with our families the story and recipe we would be exploring, then shared photos of the activities. We had really positive feedback about it all.
We would love to work further with Laura. I would love to start a parent/child group to help parents too to explore new favours and recipes”.
Katie Hill, Teacher, Castle Mead
HEADLANDS PRIMARY SCHOOL, YORK. DECEMBER 2024
Six Year 5 children continued their roles as PhunkyFoods ambassadors in the Autumn term after delivering the Snack Attack message the previous term.
Early in the Autumn term training was given on the ‘Strive for 5’ message. The ambassadors enjoyed dressing up in fruit costumes and delivered a confident and informative assembly about the importance of eating 5 fruit and vegetables a day and what size a portion is. They had lots of fantastic ideas of activities that they would like to complete within school to promote the 5 a day message. At the end of the assembly the ambassadors launched a poster competition. Children were tasked with designing a poster that encouraged people to eat five fruit and vegetables a day.
In the last week of the first half term, the ambassadors alongside Hannah from PhunkyFoods held a workshop for three classes of Key Stage 1 children. They recapped on information that had been delivered in the assembly and read The Pineapple Parade to reiterate to children that it doesn’t matter if fruit or vegetables are fresh, frozen dried or tinned they all count towards your 5 a day. The ambassadors put on great voices for all the different characters in the story!
To remind the Year 1 and 2 children the importance of eating a different coloured fruit and vegetables, the ambassadors played a hide and seek game. The ambassadors hid in their fruit costumes on the playground and they had a paper ticket with fruit on. The Year 1 and 2 children had to find the ambassadors and collect the 5 different coloured fruit tickets to make a rainbow. They were rewarded with a prize of a sticker once they had made the rainbow. Once back in class the children completed a Petra Pineapple colouring sheet before ending the session with singing along to the Phunkytunes – Gimme 5!
The final task for the ambassadors was to judge the poster competition. This was very difficult as there were some great entries. After much deliberation winners and runners up were decided, and the ambassadors presented the prizes in final awards assembly of the half term.
It has been great to see their confidence grow over the last two terms and deliver important health messages and activities to their peers with confidence. Next term, the ambassadors will be focussing on healthy snacks.
"The introduction of the PhunkyFood ambassadors has been a really positive step for our school. The ambassadors are really enjoying working within the different classes and have really embraced their roles. It has been excellent having Hannah come in and lead this with the children too. The school has enjoyed the assemblies they have delivered and many children took part in the poster competition. We are looking forward to continuing to raise the profile of healthy eating within our school with the help of our ambassadors next term."
Vicky Benson, Class teacher.
RICHARD TAYLOR PRIMARY SCHOOL, HARROGATE. FEBRUARY 2024
The PhunkyFoods Ambassadors at Richard Taylor Primary School have been busy working on their Healthy Lunch topic this half term. After delivering a fantastic whole school assembly the Ambassadors choose their first activity - to co-deliver a Health Lunch workshop in the reception class with their PhunkyFoods Support Worker, Beth.
The four Ambassadors from Year 5 confidently talked about the Eatwell guide, the different food groups and how this can contribute to a healthy packed lunch. As part of the session, they demonstrated safe chopping techniques to their younger peers, and then supported them to practice chopping cucumber sticks as part of the taster session that followed.
Whilst delivering the session we couldn’t not draw upon the celebrations around the Chinese New Year approaching as the children had been learning about it already in the week. So we incorporated some discussion and tasters around Chinese culture and ingredients too!
The Reception children were great sports at giving everything a try! Many of them finding that they liked the Vegetable Spring Rolls, Prawn Crackers and the Salmon Dip, particularly breadsticks, and not forgetting the cucumber they had helped to prepare earlier.
The Ambassadors are now planning their second activity on the Healthy Lunch topic involving a Healthy Lunchbox patrol for later this half term.
GOSSOPS GREEN PRIMARY SCHOOL, July 2023
This term, we kicked off the PhunkyFoods Programme with a series of healthy pizza making sessions for each of our Year 5 classes, which gave the children a wonderful opportunity to make their own pizza from scratch. Each session looked at how the recipe fitted in to the Eatwell Guide. Children had the opportunity to practice their knife skills, learning the bridge and claw methods, and other core food preparation skills such as measuring and grating. These fun and engaging sessions were also a great opportunity for many children to try new foods they hadn’t tasted before, in particular some of the fresh vegetables that were used for the pizza toppings.
We have focused on engaging our parent community over the last term, with our local PhunkyFoods Coordinator, Caroline Cotton, running some practical food preparation workshops for our Pupil Premium families. Parents/Carers and their children have learnt key healthy lifestyle messages during these sessions and have been given information on the Eatwell Guide to take home with them, as well as being directed to health resources and free, family-friendly recipes on the PhunkyFoods website. Both parents and children have really enjoyed making overnight oats, Greek salad and fruit kebabs during these practical sessions.
Three of our Year 5 children have taken part in the PhunkyFoods Ambassador Scheme this term and they chose to work on the topic of ‘Strive for 5’. Caroline supported the children in sharing the key health messages they had learnt by helping them to deliver an assembly to their peers, as well as run a poster competition, to which we received some fantastic entries from younger children in the school. The Ambassadors have really enjoyed their responsibilities and have done a brilliant job highlighting the importance of eating a rainbow of fruit and vegetables each day.
To finish the term, Caroline delivered a series of Transition Sessions/Healthy Eating Workshops to our Year 6 children, who are now experiencing increased independence around making their own food choices as they prepare to move up to secondary school in September. The aim of these interactive sessions was to provide the children with an increased awareness of what a healthy, balanced diets looks like and to explain how the Eatwell Guide and traffic light labelling system can be used as tools to help them make healthier food choices. These sessions also explored external influences on our food choices, looking in particular at the role of social media and advertising by the food industry.
Lucy Gianella (Assistant Principal)
CHRIST CHURCH PELLON PRIMARY SCHOOL, WEST YORKSHIRE
July 2023
We were initially contacted by PhunkyFoods asking if we wanted to take part in the Purely Nutrition NCFE Level 2 Award in Nutrition and Health of School Aged Children. Two members of staff attended this course and were able to bring back information and advice in order for us to support our school community.
Over the years we have incorporated PhunkyFoods into our yearly plan as the support and sessions they have offered have all been fantastic and so valuable to our school community. Our school link worker is Helena Glancey, who is very organised and committed to her role and we have received positive feedback from parents/carers, children and staff about her.
We have had year 5 Ambassadors who have supported in delivering assemblies and supporting in class to make an overnight oat breakfast with year 3, looking at healthy and unhealthy drinks and a session of strive for 5. The children have enjoyed their role and looked forward to their sessions with Helena.
In November 2022 the year 5 ambassadors supported in delivering a breakfast making session with the year 3 class and their parents. The ambassadors were able to support Helena in the session and enjoyed supporting their younger peers. Again, we received positive feedback from the parents/carers that attended the session, and all spoke about the benefits of eating breakfast and ideas for breakfast which are healthy.
The ambassadors have also supported in year 1 and reception to make foodie faces and to deliver the 5 a day message. The children really enjoyed this session and fun was had by all. The ambassadors enjoyed supporting the younger children and delivering their message.
We have also delivered some parent cook and eat sessions with parents/carers where parents/carers were invited into school and attended 4 sessions, where they were able to make a variety of things and learn new skills. The sessions were well attended, and we received some really good feedback from the parents/carers.
In October 2022 I approached Helena asking if she would be able to possibly deliver a slow cooker session to our families, due to the cost-of-living crisis and to promote healthy eating. We were fortunate enough to have 12 slow cookers donated to us by our PTFA. The 12 parents/carers who attended were very impressed with the level of support provided by Helena and we received very positive feedback from the parents/carers. They have continued to approach me informing me of recipes of what they have made in their slow cooker and the skills that they have learnt during the session.
Every session that we had had with Helena and PhunkyFoods has been fabulous, we have received really good feedback from the children, parents/carers and staff.
The children and their parent/carers in our community have asked for advice and support regarding healthy eating habits, supporting with meals and recipes and also gaining new skills around food preparation. This we are able to get from the PhunkyFoods team. We are so grateful for the support we have had from the service, and we will continue to use them to support our school community.
JOHN WHEELDON PRIMARY ACADEMY, STAFFORD
January 2020
I first heard about the Phunky Foods Programme from other local teachers when I attended a PE conference for Staffordshire schools in summer 2018. I loved the look of the resources and wanted to find out more. I knew how much our school needed to focus on healthy lifestyles and so I contacted my local Phunky Foods Co-ordinator who set up a meeting to discuss the programme.
After signing up, I completed a health check and action plan with our Co-ordinator. We needed to boost our curriculum with more food prep opportunities and better cookery equipment, to improve our dining room experience and to increase parental engagement around healthy lifestyles. A particular focus has been packed lunches. We had started to raise awareness of the need for healthier packed lunches, but we had received a lot of negative criticism from parents, and I wanted to make sure that this was handled in a positive way.
In November 2017, I attended the Phunky Foods Training Day, and our Co-ordinator then attended a school staff meeting to show members of staff how to use the website to help plan lessons incorporating healthy lifestyle information. As a result of this, we have now incorporated some of the Phunky Foods resources into our healthy eating / science / PSHE curriculum. This term all staff are being asked to deliver unit 2 of the Phunky Foods healthy eating curriculum on dates when outdoor PE is not possible.
Phunky Foods helped us to write a new school food policy and packed lunch policy. This has now been launched with parents. As part of the new policy consultation, parents were invited to attend a Love Your Lunchbox Workshop with their children. A workshop was held in March and attended by 10 parents and 12 children who enjoyed making tuna cous cous together. There was some great feedback from the event:- “My sons didn’t realise lunch could be so fun and different, and one even tried something new…. And I’ve learnt to make more of an effort instead of being lazy and going for convenient sandwiches”
After boosting our existing stock of cookery equipment I have continued the focus on food prep, by running a weekly after school cookery club with 8 children at a time. This has been very successful and we have made a variety of healthy recipes.
Last year, at our Christmas Fayre, Phunky Foods helped us to run a fruity Christmas tree stall. This year I will be running another healthy food prep stall making Christmas wands with the children. Our Phunky Foods Co-ordinator will also be attending our Y2 Christmas production to engage with families around healthy eating, and to hand out fruit to parents as they arrive. She will be helped by our newly recruited Phunky Ambassadors. I have recently chosen 6 year 5 children to be our Ambassadors this year, and I have trained and supported them with guidance from our Co-ordinator. They will be carrying out various Eatwell activities this year.
As a school we are now committed to the health and wellbeing of our pupils and we are currently working towards Healthy School Status. We recently underwent an Ofsted inspection, and inspectors were very interested to hear about our Phunky Foods work. We were graded Good for the first time in 11 years and the Ofsted report opens with the following comment:- “John Wheeldon Primary Academy prioritises pupils’ health and well-being alongside their academic work”
Jen Bragg (Teacher) STAINTON C of E PRIMARY SCHOOL, PENRITH
October 2019
We have been a PhunkyFoods school for over three years and now have this programme fully implemented across the whole school which promotes healthy living. Class teachers use the excellent bank of resources from the website such as the recipes within DT and Physical Activity skills and games as part of their creative curriculum. When learning about life in India as part of the KS2 topic, one of the reps came into school to help deliver a workshop on making a healthy curry with dips. It was very tasty!
As part of our breakfast and after school clubs, we have been trying to promote healthy living by using the eat well plate and resources. We are encouraging the children to learn about where our food comes from and learn about the importance of supporting local businesses.
We have implemented the ambassador scheme with the support of Gill our rep and am now in our third year of having two children from our Year 5 class who plan workshops on how to prepare healthy snacks as well as lead half termly assemblies with a different PhunkyFoods focus.
Last year, we started up a PhunkyFoods after school club where we prepare a different dish each week. This was a great success with our ambassadors also helping to lead the club. We purchased the aprons which all of the children and staff love to wear! This half term, we have started the after-school club again and now have already prepared sneakier healthier chocolate mousse, a fish pie, crab cakes and a Phunky fruit salad.
To celebrate harvest, we are inviting the community into school to share in our ‘Harvest Feast’ as the children have made bread and dips using the PhunkyFoods recipes. We are looking forward to the what PhunkyFoods has in store for us in the year ahead!
Claire Rose (Teacher) PETTERIL BANK COMMUNITY SCHOOL, CARLISLE
July 2019
Having been involved in the PhunkyFoods programme this academic year I have been thrilled with how successful it has been with our children, staff and more importantly with a considerable number of our parents who are waiting in anticipation for the next PhunkyFoods after school club. They can’t wait to tell me when they have tried a recipe at home which is always a pleasure to hear. When I returned from a residential week on Friday the first child I saw as I walked in the door said to me ‘Am I cooking with you next week Mrs Rose’? To which I asked him, ‘Well if you were cooking what would you like to make’? And his reply was ‘Spicy tomato soup’. For a child that struggles to engage this level of enthusiasm was quite unusual. It made me smile but brought home how much cooking and healthy eating is much more a part of our children’s lives than it ever was before and often gives children like him a sense of pride and achievement.
Other than the after school club we have had a staff training session and a PhunkyFoods week which involved lessons and activities to promote a healthy lifestyle. It included some of the interactive assemblies off the website and of course lots of cooking. We invited parents and the community to join us and sample what we had made during the course of the week for a garden party on the Friday afternoon. I also know that some parents took part in the Big Lunch event taking recipes they made in the cook and eat club Gill ran in the community hall next to school too. One parent has also shared the salmon dip and pea and mint smash up with another club she goes to and said they loved them.
I’m already looking forward to the year ahead and building on what we have already achieved this year. Thanks PhunkyFoods and Gill we appreciate all your help and dedication.
Teacher. HOLY ROSARY CATHOLIC PRIMARY SCHOOL, BURTON-ON-TRENT.
July 2019
Our school signed up to the Phunky Foods Programme in January 2014, when our existing head teacher carried out a Phunky School Health Check, with our local Engagement & Development Co-ordinator (EDC). This identified a need to focus on the school lunchtime experience, to introduce a new school food policy, and to extend cooking opportunities throughout the curriculum.
Progress was then made by increasing the uptake of school dinners, and staggering lunchtimes for a calmer dining environment. We also introduced a new school food policy in 2015. By the time of the first health check review in 2015, our school council had been appointed to oversee ongoing dinner hall improvements. We also identified a need to focus on healthier packed lunches, and to extend training opportunities for staff working in this area.
Our second health check review was carried out in September 2017. Following which, our EDC attended a school staff training day to notify all staff how to incorporate the Phunky Foods resources into our curriculum. 2 members of staff attended the Phunky Foods Training Day in November 2017, and our Y5 teacher attended in 2018. As a result of these training opportunities, we are now delivering more healthy eating sessions, both within the curriculum and as extra-curricular activities. In particular, we set up a PhunkyFoods after school cookery club, which began in the summer term of 2018.
PhunkyFoods have also worked on parental engagement at our school, by attending our Parent Forum in October 2017, and attending school sports days and meetings for parents of new intake. These were good opportunities to discuss healthy eating (e.g. healthy lunchboxes and healthy hydration) with some of the harder to reach parents.
One of the best aspects of the PhunkyFoods Programme has been the Ambassador scheme, which raises the profile of the programme across our school community, and also increases ownership of the scheme by pupils.
We appointed our first set of Ambassadors in November 2017; they were trained by our local EDC to deliver the first message “Strive for 5”. They delivered an assembly, carried out class surveys, and assisted our EDC at parent engagement events. They also ran a poster competition and act in a “mentoring” role for the new Ambassadors. We have all been impressed by the confidence and motivation shown by our Ambassadors.
In November 2017, PhunkyFoods asked two of our classes to complete a set of Food and Activity Diaries, detailing everything they had to eat or drink, and any exercise taken, over a 24 hour period. The results provided gave us a detailed picture of our children’s lifestyle habits.
This process was recently repeated, and showed that our children have increased their intake of fruit and vegetables since November 2017. Our first set of Phunky Ambassadors focused on the “Strive for 5” message – and so we are pleased to see that their work has had an impact.
Another focus of the school this year, prompted by our PhunkyFoods action plan, has been on growing/gardening. We have recently established a new garden area on our school site and each year group have taken responsibility for a specific planting area. We have also run a sunflower growing project, where parents and children have enjoyed planting seeds together, with a prize awarded to the tallest sunflower at the end of term.
Dawn Roebuck (Pastoral Parent Support Worker). WEST VALE PRIMARY, HALIFAX.
July 2019
We first became aware of the PhunkyFoods Program in February 2019 when Fiona Gardiner the Principal introduced the idea to promote healthy eating, links to DT and PE and develop pastoral contacts in new Parent Support Worker role in school. We were very keen to introduce the resources and find new ways to encourage parents to attend Healthy Eating and Cooking Workshops with their children. Helena our Co-ordinator came to introduce the programme and couldn’t wait to get started working on this new and exciting project.
Helena was so organised and helpful and explained how the programme would work in our school. The resources arrived very quickly at school early March ready for us to start the programme and as the programme is web based the school we had our own personal password and staff started accessing the materials straight away. All the PhunkyFoods curriculum ideas, recipes, gardening ideas, Breakfast Club activities, after school and lunchtime club ideas were introduced to Teaching staff in April and we decided to start the Ambassadors Programme alongside the Eating and Cooking Workshops to run in June and July to give us a chance to select parents who would benefit from the Workshops. Helena came to introduce the programme to the children in assembly and the Ambassadors were elected May.
The Class 5 Teacher said that the children were a bit nervous about doing the programme at first but Helena soon encouraged them to come up with lots of ideas for the school assembly to introduce the Ambassadors Programme. It was good to prepare them for taking on more responsible roles in preparation for transition to Year 6. They came up with their own ideas ‘keeping bodies active’, choosing a range of games for the children to encourage healthy activities at playtime. They were able to successfully discuss their ideas together, organise a meeting with the Head Teacher Mrs Gardiner and they soon gained permission to carry the activities out safely and fairly over different playtimes. They sourced the equipment, created a feedback book and Helena came into school to evaluate their work. The four representatives all said they really enjoyed doing it and were very proud of themselves.
Miss Acton Class 5 Teacher said ‘The resources are great and we know they are there as a bank if we want to use them or incorporate them into our planning for next year. I have used them in the DT curriculum and the PE ideas are useful. I am looking forward to using the resources properly in September as the pilot has been a success’.
We completed a Health Check in no time and as we were able to make use of the school Dining room and the excellent kitchen facilities this helped greatly. The children made a variety of easy to prepare dishes and especially liked making their own pizza’s and even had chance to taste them with mums and dads. It was a great success and to help children try new foods was a big plus. The parents all said that they appreciated the chance to spend time preparing easy recipes that they can easily use at home and it was nice to have fun and be more relaxed about food. ‘She is liking it so much and learning how to make different things… it’s really encouraging her and me too’. ‘I think it’s been very interesting and I have learned lots of new stuff and I didn’t know that you could eat a whole water melon!!!’ ‘It’s been so well organised and everything taken care of. Finding out about new ways to do easy food has been very helpful especially when mums are so busy’. ‘I’ve really enjoyed coming and it’s been nice to meet the other mums and have fun’. ‘Helena has been so helpful and I have really enjoyed coming’. What has been really inspiring was one of the children saying, ‘I look cooking and sometimes I bake at home and I would love to do this when I grow up I would like to be a chef’.
Teacher. FOREHILL PRIMARY SCHOOL, AYRSHIRE
July 2019
Over the past few years Forehill Primary school has worked in partnership with PhunkyFoods who have delivered numerous parent and child workshops across the school. During the academic year 2018-2019, Jennifer Morrison our local PhunkyFoods Support Worker, has become an integral part of the wider school team. She has delivered a whole school assembly programme focused on “drain your drinks”. This was very well received by all pupils, many of whom engaged further with the resources during the lunch hour.
Numerous parental engagement activities have been undertaken and Jennifer has been fundamental in engaging parents in a variety of opportunities. She has worked flexibly in supporting the role out of the healthy lunch box during a Primary 1 transition session, attended parent’s evenings in order to raise awareness and promote the value of healthy eating as part of a healthy lifestyle.
Within the ELCC, Jennifer delivered a series of parent and child cooking classes which were extremely well attended. Her positive approach, attention to detail and her well organised manner encouraged a high number of returning parents to attend further sessions. The evaluation feedback highlighted the value which parents placed on having the opportunity to attend these sessions and further develop their skill set.
During a practical demonstration she worked in partnership with the Primary 7 teachers to deliver a cooking session to both classes. This provided the Primary 7 teachers who are keen to promote cooking within the school with the opportunity to further develop their own skills within this area. In turn enhancing their skill set which enabled them to deliver practical cooking sessions to all Primary 7 pupils.
Jennifer has also provided invaluable CLPL for staff in order to develop their confidence to teach cutting techniques to pupils. Jennifer has a pleasant and approachable manner and always ensures that sessions are highly organised. At all times Jennifer is reflective of her own practice and is keen to strive to improve and plan for future health enhancing opportunities.
Headteacher at Winshill Village Primary School, BURTON-ON-TRENT (July 2018)
We signed up to the Phunky Foods Programme in 2013 and since then there have been a number of staff changes within school. In 2016/17 our local co-ordinator ran a session at our staff inset day to notify us of the resources and support available under the programme and all staff took part in a “supercrunch pudding” session which demonstrated how easy it can be to incorporate food prep into the curriculum. During that academic year our co-ordinator also came into school to provide information to parents of new intake on healthy lunchbox planning. She also attended a stay and play session at our nursery open morning where the children and their parents made supercrunch together, and parents were given information about healthy hydration. We had some concerns about the dental health of children in Early Years and so this information was quite appropriate.
In November 2017, we carried out a school Health Check. We were keen to focus on parental engagement around healthy eating, and to work with our breakfast club staff. We also needed to review our curriculum and boost cooking opportunities for all year groups. Our breakfast club leader attended the East Staffs Phunky Foods Training Day in November, and this was followed by training of new incoming breakfast staff later in the year. We are also planning another full staff training opportunity at a school staff meeting in September.
Since the Health Check in November 2017, we have reviewed our school curriculum and decided to adopt the Phunky Foods physical activity curriculum for next academic year. We have also incorporated cookery for every year group each term.
Parental engagement has been our main focus this academic year. Our local co-ordinator attended our whole school parents evening in February 2018 to engage with parents around healthy packed lunches. A number of parents expressed interest in attending a follow up “Love Your Lunchbox” parent workshop, and so this took place in March. 12 parents attended and made tuna and tomato couscous, feedback was very positive. In fact several families have since turned around their family eating habits as a result of attending this workshop, including Zoe James (with her children Matilda and Wren) and Rachel Tipper (with her children Lucas and Lilly – pictured below)
“We had lost our way and forgotten that it is not OK for our kids to be eating crisps every day. The workshop gave us lots of new ideas to try. Our children were happy to replace their crisps with healthier snacks like unsalted unsweetened popcorn and fruit. They are drinking more water. I can’t remember when we last ate crisps! The whole family has benefitted – my husband lost 1 ½ stone. It has made a big difference cooking meals from scratch again.”
“We made lots of changes to our family eating habits – the children now take water instead of squash, Lucas always takes fruit/veg in his packed lunch. I am also a lot more careful about checking food labels now”
As a Headteacher it has been pleasing for me to notice healthier changes in lunchboxes in particular I have noticed couscous appearing since the Parent Workshop!
Parental engagement also occurred this year at our KS1 sports day in June – when our co-ordinator focused on healthy hydration, and talked to parents about the amount of sugar in popular soft drinks. And finally at our open day at the end of term in July when parents were again reminded about healthy packed lunches and invited to sample the tuna and tomato couscous option.
Next year we are excited to be running the Phunky Ambassador scheme with our Yr 5 students and looking forward to involve more of our pupils in the healthy key messages.
Headteacher at Bishop Harvey Goodwin Primary School, CARLISLE (July 2018)
We have now been a part of the PhunkyFood program for just under a year now. It has given us a lot of opportunities in and out of school prompting the importance of being healthy and keeping active. Teachers have been able to deliver high quality lessons given children a depth of understanding of being healthy and the life benefits this can provide. We have also been able to begin a mile a day with the support of the ambassadors prompting this in and around the school. Our school tuck and snack policy has been reviewed and refined so we are supporting children in making changes to their daily routine choices. They are also aware of what they should be drinking and the quantities that are needed so they keep hydrated in and out of school. Poster have been made by all year groups showing this knowledge and competitions have been held which children have been enthusiastic and co-operative with.
Phunky Food Ambassadors
Aimee – I have been given the opportunity to share my opinions and take the lead with a very important part of a school curriculum. I really like doing the mini ten minutes’ actives each day in the different classes and seeing all the children and my friends smiling when we do this.
Liam – It has given me confidence to share what I think and to help teach younger children what choices they can make at school and home focusing on sugar content.
Georgia – I feel happy when I am working with different children in school, I have made a lot of friends during this opportunity which has helped me outside of school as well. I like it when children smile and when we have competition that children join in with. I also love how this has changed so many opinions and our snacks are really healthy now.
Tyler – I liked the poster competition because I like how everyone did something different to share and help our school become fit and healthy.
Head Teacher – thoughts about the program and impact on our school.
I have been delighted to see the positive impact Gill and Phunky Foods has had in our school in such a short space of time, especially the impact it has had on staff and pupils alike. Gill has delivered clear and effective sessions via worship and sports day. We are looking forward to even closer work next year and have added it to our aims for well-being in our Sports Funding Statement on our website.
Ben Cass, Teacher at Beckermet CE Primary School, COPELAND (July 2018)
We first heard about the Phunky Foods programme when our PE coordinator was offered two places for staff to attend the training day back in the autumn term. My colleague and I attended the day and we were very impressed by the programme. I was surprised at some of the facts and figures given about just how unhealthy children in Copeland are compared to the rest of the UK. It really brought home just how important the programme is as a way for schools to have a positive impact on healthy eating.
We felt the programme website and materials were very easy to use and considering it is free, the resources are vast and of high quality.
We decided to opt into the programme as a school during the beginning of the spring term and we have since received a lot of help and support from Harriet, our Engagement and Development Coordinator. She came into school free of charge and delivered a workshop called ‘Strive-for-5’ to our KS1 class.
Feedback from the staff and children involved in our after school cookery club has been positive; they have found the varied and healthy recipes simple and easy to follow. Our two older school councillors became our school Phunky Foods Ambassadors after completing the training with Harriet. They received a workbook to complete and in return were given a pin badge to proudly wear. They have delivered half termly assemblies to the school, each time delivering one of the whole school topics. This has been a great way to ensure all the school receives some of the vital messages of Phunky Foods, as time constraints and pressures of the curriculum have meant some classes have not done as many of the schemes of work as they would have liked. One whole scheme topic which I feel was most effective was the Eat Well guide - our children are much more aware of what proportions of food groups they need for a healthy diet. The programme has allowed our children to make more informed decisions about healthier alternatives.
Overall, we are very happy with the Phunky Foods programme and we are planning on developing our use of it even further next year.
Alison Oliver, Assistant Head at Norland C of E Junior & Infant School, SOWERBY BRIDGE (July 2018)
Norland is a small, rural, primary village school which has grown from 95 to 107 pupils over the last year. These children are drawn from a wide catchment area and diverse backgrounds. Pupil premium, FSM and SEN are all below national averages. There are 4 classes, 3 of which are mixed year groups. School was rated ‘good’ by OFSTED, December 2016 and ‘outstanding’ by SIAMS (October 2017). School meals are externally provided.
During the academic year 2017-2018, Helena Glancy from Phunky Foods has continued to play an integral role in the Norland family, supporting Healthy living, Science, PSHE and the DT curriculum.
She supports the children in their learning, across all ages and she has helped teachers deliver many aspects of the curriculum. There is an established culture: children aspire to be a Food Ambassador; healthy eating habits are openly discussed; and ‘a treat’ is understood to be something that is not daily!
Scientific language is filtering down the school and recently I discussed an eat-well plate with Y2 children who confidently talked about protein and carbohydrate and why the body needs them!
Helana continues to be a valued member of the team: she is an excellent role model; she always follows school policy and expects the highest standards of behaviour and learning; she talks sensitively to parents and although she recognises their needs, she encourages healthy choices.
I would strongly recommend the Phunky Food programme to any primary school and have offered to host events to promote it locally, if this would be helpful.
Sara Williams, Year 2 Teacher at West St Leonard's Primary Academy, EAST SUSSEX (July 2017)
We started the Phunkyfoods programme in September 2015. All of our staff were initially trained at a staff meeting training session and the resources are used across the school. We carried out a Phunkyfoods health check with our EDC in June 2016 to make improvements to the healthy living environment across the school and recently reviewed it. Some of the positive improvements include:
- Working with parents to promote healthier snacks
- Making sure the breakfasts on offer are consistent with healthy eating messages (sugary options have been limited and healthier food is now on offer)
- Giving pupils the opportunity to do farm based activities
- Keeping pupils physically active in all lessons
- Involving community partners in growing, cooking and physical activity programmes
- Using reward based initiatives to promote healthy lifestyles (the school is taking part in the Golden Mile; we also do ‘Just dance’ everyday with classes competing and weekly certificates)
With my class, I now regularly refer to the Eatwell guide and I and other colleagues encourage the children to make healthier choices at lunchtime. I like to use the PSHE approach – showing children how to appreciate their bodies and value themselves as well as being aware of other cultures, of food hygiene, of the social experience, of vegetarianism etc. Since the health check, I have started eating lunch with the children on a regular basis and have found it a very positive experience; we all enjoy it!
Fiona McManus, PSHE Coordinator at Elmwood Junior School, CROYDON (July 2017)
The PhunkyFoods program has been absolutely fantastic this year. Wendy Walsh has delivered a number of informative assemblies and workshops to the whole school to promote healthy lunches and to deliver the message ‘Strive for Five’. In the most recent assembly, Wendy demonstrated how to make fruit smoothies and some of the children had the opportunity to taste them. In addition, Wendy ran an Egyptian food tasting session on Ancient Egyptian Day and she provided ideas for recipes for the Year 4 Roman day.
We have also appointed two PhunkyFood Ambassadors in the school who assisted Wendy in her most recent assembly. They have also delivered an assembly to promote the message ‘Strive for Five’ and their new message is ‘Drain your Drinks’, an initiative to stay hydrated every day.
At the beginning of this academic year, Wendy delivered a staff meeting about the PhunkyFoods website and all of the resource available for the teachers to use. The resources are extremely useful, interactive and informative. We look forward to working with PhunkyFoods next year!
Charlene Carrett, PSHE Leader at Pegasus Academy Trust, CROYDON (1600 pupils across 4 schools)
We became involved with the PhunkyFoods Programme because we were missing a nutrition scheme of work and we wanted to teach more food related topics. We wanted our children to have a better understanding of how to live a healthy lifestyle. We have been running the PhunkyFoods Programme for one year now. All staff members were trained during an inset day and since then we have delivered parent workshops, assemblies, children’s food workshops and we have also used the resources and lesson plans during class work. The pupils are really benefiting from the PhunkyFoods Programme and they are now able to make and discuss healthy choices; they enjoy talking about food and can make healthy snacks. Our results in health and self-care in Reception have definitely increased this year as we placed a greater emphasis on PhunkyFoods in Reception. The Reception children are very articulate about discussing healthy eating and the benefits. We recently took part in food growing and sold our vegetables at a local market and we also involve parents in the programme through parent workshops. Moving forward we are working on supporting the Juniors more. The Juniors have topics and we would like them to incorporate the PhunkyFoods lesson plans through their topic work.
Fran Simpson, Head of School at Parkland Infant School, EAST SUSSEX (180 pupils).
We joined the PhunkyFoods programme in September 2015 to develop our healthy lifestyle work in school. Our Community Support Worker, Georgina, came into school to deliver some training on the programme which we then cascaded to all staff in both schools. A member of staff from our Junior school also attended the full PhunkyFoods training day.
We took part in a health check in January 2016 which was reviewed in June 2016. As a result of the health check, we drafted a new school food policy, arranged a farm visit for Year 1 and introduced staff eating with the children at lunchtimes. We set up a summer sports and summer holiday project, a food tasting project for International Food Day and a growing project plus a new reward system connected to making healthy choices.
The health check was a fantastic tool and together with a lot of effort from staff, we have made big changes in the quality of our teaching and learning on healthy lifestyles.
In our breakfast club, we now have fresh fruit everyday and the staff, who also use the PhunkyFoods website resources, made the ‘Supercrunch’ dish with the children. We have also worked to improve the quality of packed lunches.
This term we have been working with parents to get the key messages across. We have shared the resources on the website with them and we add a PhunkyFoods recipe to our newsletter every week. This term we held two workshops for parents and their children on the themes of healthy lunchboxes and getting active and in September 2016 we are introducing a parent/child aerobics and relaxation course.
