Guernsey Press

St Martin’s students embrace healthy lifestyles

ST MARTIN’S PRIMARY SCHOOL has won its first new Guernsey Healthy School award.

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St Martin’s Primary School was presented with a Guernsey Healthy Schools award. Left to right: head teacher Cate Mason, Isla De La Mare, 11, Libby Morton, 11, Thomas Woodward, 9, Lady Corder, who presented the award, and lifelong learning manager Alun Williams. (Picture by Adrian Miller, 24670262)

A presentation assembly yesterday saw the children take centre stage showcasing a number of ways to stay healthy.

Head teacher Cate Mason said she was proud of her school, with everyone getting involved to achieve the award.

‘We’re so happy to be recognised in reaching healthy school standards,’ she said.

‘Winning this means we have successfully shown how we teach Personal Social Health and PE, and how we promote healthy eating, as well as through the introduction of new policies and planning documents.

‘The children have really embraced it, we do a daily mile – where they get to go outside and be active.

‘More fruit and slow oats have been introduced at breakfast too.

‘Also, when it’s someone’s birthday, we now let that child come in their own clothes, rather than bringing in cake.

‘We will continue, and hopefully introduce more ways in which to encourage healthy living.’

The school has achieved the award in the past but this is the first time it has achieved the new Guernsey award which has been based on a scheme running successfully in Essex.

Year 6 student Isla De La Mare, 11, said that the school had been working really hard to get the award.

Fellow pupil, nine-year-old Thomas Woodward, added that it was really nice to have received the award as it showed recognition to the school for what they had achieved.

‘We’ll keep it up,’ said the Year 5 student.

‘Outside of school I now get involved in playing football – it’s great.’

Fellow Year 6 pupil Dylan Williams, 10, agreed: ‘I think it’s helped me to be a bit more sporty, so before I didn’t do karate or swimming, but now I do.’

Classmate Libby Morton, 11, was proud to have won and liked a number of a changes that encouraged her to be healthy.

‘I like the change from eating birthday cake to simply saying happy birthday to that person. You can tell whose birthday it is because they get to wear their own clothes,’ she said.

Lifelong learning manager Alun Williams, who visited the school yesterday morning, said that the children were providing an important lesson to their schoolmates on ways to eat healthily by re-enacting the food groups into the morning’s assembly and singing about them.

‘The children have taken 20 minutes to tell us how to make healthy lifestyle choices, that sometimes can take me two hours to tell others,’ he told the pupils yesterday.

‘This has been really informative and inspiring.

‘The school has worked extremely hard to achieve this award.’

Presented by Lady Corder, the award celebrates the good work the school is doing to support and develop young people’s health and wellbeing.

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