The thirteen pupils, aged between eight and 11, spoke energetically about their school and the many projects they cover under the Eco Schools programme – which is designed to encourage whole-school action for the environment – including healthy eating, litter, energy, recycling and community links. One area of focus for the presentation was ‘promoting healthier lifestyles’ and pupils spoke excitedly about the Quorn Healthy Eating days that took place in September.
Jill Weatherburn, home economist, Marlow Foods, visited Ferryhill Primary over a two-day period to conduct healthy-eating workshops for the entire school. Following an introduction in morning assembly, Jill shared her healthy-eating knowledge with both infant and primary pupils, class by class.
Each class enjoyed a talk on the ‘healthy plate’, in which the five main food groups were outlined, and Quorn as an alternative to meat. Once the principles for healthy eating were understood, two volunteers were invited to help with a cookery demonstration and the children relished the opportunity to pretend to be celebrity chefs, with Nigella Lawson, Jamie Oliver and Gordon Ramsay being the popular choices. The aspiring chefs helped to create tasty Quorn Wraps and eye-catching Quorn Traffic Light Salad, which the rest of the class happily sampled.
The finale of each workshop was the ‘Healthy Lunchbox Challenge’. Divided into small groups, pupils competed to create a healthy lunchbox using the Quorn dishes and other healthy snacks provided, with the winning lunchbox being the healthiest and the most creative.
Jill Weatherburn comments: “The children were a joy to work with. They were really enthusiastic and asked lots of questions and I’m thrilled that they enjoyed it so much that they chose to put it in their presentation to the Scottish Executive.”
Quorn is the brand name for a range of meat-free products all containing the unique ingredient mycoprotein, an edible fungi and a relative of the mushroom family. It provides a good source of protein, is low in fat, low in cholesterol and contains no additives or artificial colours. It is also a good source of dietary fibre and essential vitamins and minerals to aid the development of healthy bones, joints, blood and the digestive system.
The Quorn range of products includes fillets, pieces, mince, balls, sausages, burgers and Dippers.
Tel: 0845 602 9000
