Local nursery and primary schools awarded at Health for Life celebration event

9 nursery and 10 primary schools from across Birmingham have beenpresented with a Health for Life award at a celebration event held at the iconicBirmingham Botanical Gardens.

The ceremony saw Lisa Fraser, assistant director of education and early yearsat Birmingham City Council, present the awards, celebrating theachievements of pupils and staff, to schools which have participated in theHealth for Lifeprogramme over the past two years.

Funded by Mondelēz International and delivered in partnership with ServicesFor Education, with the support of The Conservation Volunteers (TCV), theHealth for Life initiative aims to achieve a sustained difference in healthylifestyles across Birmingham, encouraging activities, in nursery and primaryschools, such as growing fruit and vegetables, learning about healthy eating,improving cooking skills and taking part in a range of physical activities.

Mondelēz International has invested over £4.5m in the initiative to date,reaching more than 225,000 children and adults in Birmingham over the past10 years. Health for Life have also recently recruited the next cohort ofschools for the programme.

Lisa Fraser, assistant director of education and early years at Birmingham CityCouncil, commented: “Well done to all the schools that have taken part in theprogramme, especially over the past two years in such a difficult climate. It’sso important that children are educated on the importance of being activeand eating healthily now more than ever, so it’s fantastic to see theachievements from schools, thanks to the Health for Life scheme.”

Helen Grundy, education adviser at Services For Education, said: “We’reincredibly proud of all the pupils who have taken part in the programme. It’swonderful to see the positive difference the scheme continues to make atschools across Birmingham, and it’s brilliant to celebrate their achievementsat this inspiring event.”

The programme provides support, training and funding to enable schools tomake wide ranging and sustainable changes such as building raised beds andpolytunnels, planting fruit trees and bushes to grow fresh vegetables andfruit, redesigning playground areas in order for more children to be activeduring break times and running family learning workshops to share healthylifestyle messages with parents and carers.

Kelly Farrell, community affairs manager at Mondelēz International, added:“This celebration event recognises all the hard work, from the pupils andstaff, in bringing about the brilliant changes which make such a differenceand embed healthier lifestyle activities in school life. We’re extremely proudof our Health for Life programme and the latest cohort of schools for all theirachievements - particularly throughout the challenges of the last two years.“

For more information on the Health for Life programme, please visit

www.servicesforeducation.co.uk/health-for-life/