Activ-eat is a health education programme for children aged 6-9 years of age, which encourages children to eat a healthy balanced diet and lead a healthy lifestyle.

The programme is delivered by Bupa volunteers who visit schools across the UK, teaching children the importance of a healthy balanced diet

You might be wondering how does it work?

A team of six Bupa volunteers visit a local school within their area and lead a series of fun activities with a small class of children.  The activities are designed to be fun and educational so the children learn whilst enjoying themselves.  The activities include tasting different fruits from around the world, for many children it’s their first experience of some of the fruits, making healthy smoothies and playing fun games which highlight the importance of eating five fruit and vegetables a day.  The children are also encouraged to increase their physical activities by playing lively games at the start of the session and then receiving a pedometer.

All participating children are set an Activ-eat three week challenge, which is left with the school.  The challenge is for each child to walk 40,000 steps a week and eat their five portions of fruit and vegetables a day.  The school receives an Activ-eat wall chart to monitor their progress and at the end of the challenge the winning children receive a prize from Bupa.

Bupa’s Community Connections team have also worked with the Bupa medical team to create a series of informative booklets for the children to take home, with information and dietary advice for both parents and children.  As well as this, Community Connections have created an affiliation with the Government’s Healthy Schools initiative to ensure that we are up to date with any Government obesity research or new recommendations in the area.

The feedback we’ve received from the children,  aswell as teachers, is wonderful and always very positive.  So far Bupa staff have visited over 20 different schools, educating over 3,000 young children and we hope to visit many more.

We’re always looking for volunteers…

I have also worked with Kiya Survivors and MIND Brighton charities in helping to raise £3000 by putting on a music gig here in Brighton for all our talented staff. The event is due again on Friday 5^th June for its 3^rd year having been such a success.

I also work closely with Off the fence charity in Brighton. We hold various clothing, food and more collections for the homeless in Brighton over the Christmas period. Its great to know that what we do is of such benefit at home as well as abroad, regardless of where we are there is always someone in need.

There are lots of other initiatives I am also involved in including activ eat where we go into local schools and teach children about healthy eating, we support Bupa’s big main charities here when ever any events are planned, I assist others that have their own charities they wish to support and much more.