Blackrock School

Over a period of 16 days beginning the last week of January every child in the school has participated in the Food Dudes Programme. The programme, which was developed by the University of Wales, Bangor, is funded by The Dept. of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and is delivered by Bord Bia.
Children enjoyed a variety of fruit and vegetables and a well designed awards system encouraged the reluctant ones to give it a go. Generally a very large percentage of the children had no difficulty with the range of fruit and veg. on offer and well done to all. Thank you coordinators and teachers for enabling the smooth running of the programme

Healthy EatingAccording to the National Taskforce on Obesity, children are consuming large amounts of energy dense food which may be provided in or outside the home.
A survey in 2002 by Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (a World Health Organization collaborative cross-national study) showed that 51% of Irish children consumed sweets, 37% drank fizzy drinks, 27% consumed crisps, 12% ate chips and 7% ate hamburgers at least once daily. In addition, it is thought that each additional glass of sugar-sweetened drink that children consume every day greatly increases the risk of becoming obese.