Healthy Kids – Promoting health and wellbeing with Primary School Children

One hundred children from Meadowfield Primary School took part in a succession of fun health-themed activities and interactive fitness sessions with Leeds Metropolitan University students through Business in the Community’s ‘Healthy Kids’ volunteering programme.

Fifty students from the ‘Sport, Physical Activity and Health’ course led the series of sessions during the two half day events. They covered the benefits of being active, understanding what physical activity is, how to get more activity into a day and what types of food aid activity.  The students also spoke to the pupils about university life, providing inspiration to these 100 children from non-traditional university backgrounds.

Meadowfield Primary was chosen for this project as it is situated in a deprived urban area in East Leeds – health statistics from the Office for National Statistics show that 14% of people in this area are claiming health-related benefits, compared with a national average of 7%.

Andy Smith, Lecturer at Leeds Metropolitan University said: “From a university perspective, running the Healthy Kids workshop allows us to build links with local schools and promote ‘what university is all about’ to children from non-traditional university backgrounds.

This experience will help the university students improve their presentation skills and enable them to apply what they have learnt in the classroom in a practical setting. It also gives them valuable experience in real life situations which inevitably will help develop their employment skills.”

He added: “Business in the Community was essential in making this happen, by identifying a willing school and then providing the successful framework for the event.”

Business in the Community also delivers ‘Culture Kids’, ‘Eco Kids’ Career Kids’ and ‘Money Kids’ involving businesses from all sectors across Leeds. For more information email Michael Harvey

Impact

All pupil participants in ‘Healthy Kids’ completed a short evaluation form

  • a massive 95% said they will be more active following what they had learned in the ‘Healthy Kids’ sessions
  • 97% know some food that makes them healthy following the sessions
  • Many pupils pledged to cycle more often and eat healthy food while several promised to stop eating junk food and play less computer games
  • One student said the most rewarding part of the volunteering was “Knowing that we may have improved some children’s life for the better in the future.”
  • Of the students who completed the Business in the Community post event survey, 100% said their perception of the university has improved

See also

Leeds Metropolitan University taking part in Healthy Kids
Leeds Metropolitan University Healthy Kids programme

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