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Students at Chaucer School tuck into healthy lifestyle with help from Hillsborough Leisure Centre
Youngsters at a
Sheffield
high school are feeling the benefit of a healthy lifestyle thanks to a unique partnership with a leading leisure centre.
Chaucer Business and
Enterprise
College
has seen an increase in students tucking into healthy school meals and has teamed up with Hillsborough Leisure Centre to reward youngsters with discounted exercise.
The school, in Parson Cross, has withdrawn chips from its lunchtime menu and introduced a raft of healthy eating options. As part of a drive to encourage students to extend their healthy habits to their home life, the school allocates points for menu choices. At the end of each term the healthiest eaters receive vouchers for a free swim at Hillsborough Leisure Centre.
The leading leisure centre, which has been named UK Centre of the Year by the Fitness Industry Association (FIA) for the last three consecutive years, has also donated 1,000 discounted swim vouchers to the school.
And youngsters that exercise out of school hours can continue to clock up their ‘healthy points’ when they visit the Penistone Road venue and select healthy options from the Food Etc café.
Jane Betts, Catering Manager at Chaucer, said: “The new healthy menu and cashless finger print payment system is proving extremely popular with students.
“Since we introduced the healthy options at the beginning of the school year we’ve seen an increase in the number of students having school dinners.
“We’ve had very positive feedback on the healthy points system from students and the partnership with Hillsborough Leisure Centre has further enhanced interest.
“We wanted to ensure that students continue their commitment to healthy eating and an active lifestyle outside school and we’re grateful to Hillsborough for their support.”
The canteen at Chaucer offers students a wide variety of healthy options including hot sandwiches and paninis, traditional meals with vegetables, salads, jacket potatoes in addition to options at the cold deli bar and the pasta bar. The school also sells fruit and fruit pots, with buy two get one free offers available.
Hillsborough Leisure Centre general manager
Richard Apps
said: “We’re thrilled to be working with Chaucer to help students fully embrace the benefits of a healthy and active lifestyle.
“It can be particularly easy for teenagers to overlook the need for a balanced diet and active lifestyle and we’re constantly striving to keep them as engaged as possible. We operate teen fitness classes and look forward to welcoming more Chaucer students to the venue to support the work they do in school.”
The Penistone Road venue has already established strong links with
Sheffield
primary schools and has demonstrated a commitment to helping tackle the childhood obesity problem by successfully running the pioneering MEND Programme. |
