Healthier Futures Barnsley
A healthy diet is essential for good health and nutrition. Healthy eating in childhood helps children to be less likely to develop chronic diseases such as:
- heart disease
- obesity
- type 2 diabetes
- some cancers
A healthy school food and drink culture helps children develop healthy habits. This will help them to live healthier and happier lives. Food and nutrition education helps children and young people. It gives them knowledge and skills they need to be able to make healthier choices.
Healthy eating
Resources for all ages
| Resource | Organisation | Description |
| Cooking lessons | PHE | Teacher training for healthy cooking lessons. |
| Food a fact of life | Food a fact of life | Teaching resources around topics such as healthy eating, cooking and where food comes from. |
| Water only schools toolkit | London.gov.uk | A toolkit to support school in becoming a 'water only school'. It includes a policy draft, step by step implementation guide and parents letter. |
| Quench your thirst | Health Powered Kids | Importance of water lesson plan for ages 3 to 14. |
| The truth about sugary drinks | Health Powered Kids | Sugary drink awareness lesson plan for ages 9 to 14. |
| Smart snacking | Health Powered Kids | Smart snacking lesson plan which includes print out sheets and a newsletter for ages 9 to 14. |
| Packed lunch guide | School Food Matters | Healthy packed lunch guide to support families. |
| School food plan | School Food Plan | Headteacher checklist, portion size guide and Ofsted guidance. |
| Whole school ideas to healthy eating | PHE | Whole school ideas to eating healthy, including breakfast club tips, leadership ideas and engaging with families etc. |
| Barnsley's packed lunch toolkit | Barnsley Council | Guide to making a healthy packed lunch. |
| The Eatwell Guide poster | PHE | The Eatwell Guide plate healthy eating poster for primary and secondary schools. |
| Non-food rewards | School Food Matters | Poster around alternative to food rewards for both primary and secondary schools. |
Resources for primary
| Resource | Organisation | Description |
| Food detectives | PHE | Toolkit helping you teach KS1 about five a day and sugar. |
| NHS food scanner activities toolkit | PHE | Activities toolkit around the 'scan, swipe, swap' NHS food scanner app. This resource helps pupils explore what's in their food and drink and how to find healthier choices. |
| NHS food scanner assembly | PHE | Assembly around the 'scan, swipe, swap' NHS food scanner app. This assembly encourages pupils to explore what a balanced diet is and why it's important to know what's in our food. |
| Classroom resources for healthy eating | PHE | Resources relating to healthy eating. |
| Whole school ideas to healthy eating | PHE | Whole school ideas to eating healthy, including breakfast club tips, leadership ideas and engaging with families etc. |
| KS2 sugar and fibre lesson plan | NHS Highland | Provides video links and resources to delivering lessons on fibre, nutrition labelling, sugary drinks etc for KS2. |
| Picky eating lesson plan | Health Powered Kids | Picky eating lesson plan for ages 3 to 8. |
| Why farming matters | MEEN | A guide to educating KS2 on farming, including classroom activities and resources. |
| Healthy eating checklist | PHE | Checklist for head teachers from the school food plan. |
| Food pyramid | Twinkl | Food pyramid lesson activity for KS1. |
| Parental engagement | Food - a fact of life | How to work with parents and carers in relation to food. |
Resources for secondary
| Resource | Organisation | Description |
| Healthier Families | NHS | Easy ways to eat well and move more. |
| Sugar | NHS | Better Health resource about sugar. |
| Sugar: the facts | NHS | How sugar in our diet affects our health. |
| The Eatwell Guide | NHS | The Eatwell Guide shows how much of what we eat overall should come from each food group to achieve a healthy, balanced diet. |
| Keep healthy, be active | Macmillan | Guide to healthy eating for KS3 teachers including lesson plan examples and resources. |
| Healthy diet | BBC | BBC Bitesize healthy diet video and quiz for KS3. |
| Nutrition worksheets | The Nutrition Programme | Worksheets, recipe ideas and resources on food and nutrition for KS3 and KS4. |
Oral health
Resources for all ages
| Resource | Organisation | Description |
| Soft drinks guide for schools | NHS Highland | Sweetened soft drinks and child health and wellbeing. |
| Oral health guide | Barnsley Council | Guide to promoting lifelong good habits and useful resources. |
Resources for primary
| Resource | Organisation | Description |
| Barnsley supervised toothbrushing club toolkit 2024 | Public Health | The Barnsley supervised toothbrushing club toolkit 2024. Settings must contact the Children's Public health Team first before setting this up. The Public Health team can talk you through the process and provide equipment and training. Staff must complete training before attempting to start a supervised toothbrushing club within their setting. |
| Kind to teeth social media images | Barnsley Council | Images for promoting the Kind to teeth campaign - located on our Help to share our message webpage. |
| Science lesson - keeping our teeth healthy | PHE | Lesson plans and comic-style story to teach pupils about dental health. |
| Toothbrushing tips | NHS | Taking care of children’s teeth and toothbrush top tips. |
| Brush DJ | Brush DJ | App that makes brushing your teeth fun. Available on the App Store or Google Play. |
| Egg experiment | Scouts | Experiment to look at the effects of acid and fluoride on tooth enamel. |
| Help Duggee brush his teeth | BBC | Tooth brushing song and a game for children to earn a tooth brushing badge. |
| Toothbrushing videos | British Society of Paediatric Dentistry | Help make toothbrushing fun for families. Choose a video and be inspired to look after your teeth. |
| Oral health in the classroom | Oral Health Foundation | Resources around oral health in the classroom. |
| Dental buddy | Oral Health Foundation | Programme that provides resources for early years education, KS1 and KS2. Includes activity sheets, lesson plans and presentations. |
| A practical guide to children’s teeth | British Society of Paediatric Dentistry | Basic advice and information you might need about oral health. |
| KS1 oral hygiene | e-Bug | KS1 oral hygiene lesson where students learn how plaque forms and why and how sugary food and drink can damage your teeth. |
| KS2 oral hygiene | e-Bug | KS2 oral hygiene lesson where students learn how they can prevent tooth decay. The activities show the importance of brushing teeth twice a day to reduce plaque, and how much sugar many common drinks contain. |
| Bitesize information about teeth | BBC | Video looking at the different types of teeth and how to keep teeth healthy. |
| Keeping our teeth healthy lesson plan | PHE | KS1 and a KS2 science lesson plan on oral health. |
Resources for secondary
| Resource | Organisation | Description |
| Oral health advice | NHS AAA | Oral health advice for teenagers. |
| Teens' teeth | Oral Health Foundation | Information for teens on oral health. |
| Dental caries | BBC | BBC Bitesize oral health guide for GSCE revision. |
| BRIGHT dental health | PSHE Association | Oral health advice for children and young people |