Danone’s award-winning Eat Like a Champ healthy eating course is joining forces with the Mayor of London’s Healthy Schools programme, to encourage healthy eating amongst pupils across the capital.
Eat Like A Champ is a healthy lifestyle education programme, covering healthy eating, hydration and physical activity. Danone, whose mission is to bring health through food to the maximum number of people, created the course in 2009 in collaboration with the British Nutrition Foundation. The course reaches over 35,000 9 and 10 year olds across the country every year. One of the secrets of its success is the way it uses role models to share educational messages. The current ambassador is TV presenter Helen Skelton, who found fame canoeing the Amazon River and trekking to the South Pole.
Now, Healthy Schools London, which recognises schools for their activities to support the health and wellbeing of pupils , will be encouraging thousands of teachers across the capital to sign up for the six week course, for free.
Adam Grant, Managing Director of Danone Dairy UK, said:
‘We’re very excited to be expanding Eat Like A Champ’s reach across London and thrilled to be recognised by the Mayor of London’s Healthy Schools Programme. We are extremely proud of Eat Like A Champ as it brings our health mission to life for thousands of UK children.’
Deputy Mayor for London Roger Evans commented:
'The Mayor's Healthy Schools London programme is already working with more than two-thirds of London schools to improve the health and wellbeing of youngsters in the capital. We're pleased that Danone have come on board to support this important work through Eat Like a Champ with the goal of getting our city's schoolchildren healthier and more active.'
Danone and City Hall will also join forces early in 2016 to carry out some in-depth research on the impact the course has on eating habits. Independent research from the Children’s Food Trust in 2012 found an improvement in eating habits amongst children who had completed Eat Like a Champ, and this study, carried out in real time in 50 London schools, will aim to gather more in-depth, tangible insights.
Registration is now open for all schools on www.eatlikeachamp.co.uk