• The children always eat breakfast and have a healthy drink before they leave home. If they will be making their own breakfast, please ensure they know where to find healthy food, for example, breakfast cereal, porridge, fruit, bread for toast and fruit juice. Pupils coming to school hungry or dehydrated find it much more difficult to concentrate in lessons and are often more likely to be irritable.

• Pupils DO NOT bring sugary fizzy drinks, sweets or chewing gum to school High sugar or caffeine drinks, e.g cola, lemonade or drinks that say they are “energy drinks” should not be brought to school or eaten/drunk before school.. They can make pupils hyperactive and very tired when the effects of the caffeine or sugar wear off. This includes diet fizzy drinks which have a similar effect. Fruit juice, yoghurt drinks, water and milk are the most suitable.

• If you bring a packed lunch, ensure it has healthy food in.

• Bring a water bottle to school or buy one at school Pupils are allowed to drink water in all lessons except practical or IT lessons and should aim to drink the equivalent of 8 large glasses of water in a whole day (including before and after school). Thirsty and dehydrated pupils find it much more difficult to concentrate.

• If they are being given money to buy snacks or drinks on the way to school, please make sure they understand which snacks are healthy and what they should choose. Pupils should eat a healthy snack at breaktime. They can either bring one with them from home or buy one in the school canteen.
Healthy lifestyles are also important for success at school. In particular, please make sure your child has had enough sleep on school nights. A lack of sleep can cause poor concentration and irritability and so pupils do less well at school. A minimum of 8 hours sleep is very important. It is also important with the new challenges that secondary school brings to do a healthy amount of exercise, even if the only time you can fit that in is by walking all or part of the way to school every day.
Further advice for families on how to ensure your child has a healthy diet and lifestyle is available on the following websites:

www.nhs.uk/change4life

www.nutrition.org.uk

www.eatwell.gov.uk