Les Cotils dishes out fruit for pupils
FRUITY treats are getting thousands of schoolchildren to eat more healthily.
All States primary schools receive 1,000 pieces of fruit every Monday from Les Cotils.
Primarily it is for students who otherwise would not eat fruit at lunchtime.
‘This gives everyone the chance to have a healthy snack during the day,’ said Lucie Le Prevost, Amherst Primary School Year 4 teacher and PSHE lead.
‘We keep our boxes of fruit at the front of the classroom, so the children can take some whenever they want.’
Each week the fruit differs, to offer the chance to try new things.
Healthy eating is also being discussed in another campaign at Amherst, Veg Power, which offers comparisons and builds on existing knowledge.
Jaylen Leadbeater, 9, had learned about how fruit and vegetables in the right quantities prevent scurvy.
‘Peppers have 300 times more vitamin C than oranges – and peppers were introduced here when people went to find black pepper and found these instead.’
Alfie Bourgaize, 8, said: ‘Eating too many carrots can make your hands and feet turn orange and you get sick.’
Students have been more willing to eat fruit at school with their peers all doing the same.
Alba Cheetham, 9, said she loves fruit because it gives you more energy.
‘My mum says I can’t have bananas before bed because it keeps me awake.
‘If you have fruit in the morning it helps you in the day.’
Erica Bourgaize, 9, said she likes most fruit except watermelon.
Supporting Les Cotils and the island’s children was an easy decision, PwC director Steven Le Prevost said, by funding the scheme from September last year until July 2022. Les Cotils chairman Tony Gallienne said the need for the initiative was identified after lockdown in 2020, when Les Cotils ran its Food for Families scheme.
