Little Ilford School works hard to instil the benefits of health and wellbeing into their students.  Healthy Schools Week takes place once a year in January and then we have three additional Healthy Highlights feature days spread over the remainder of the year.  As a result we have been accredited under the TFL Stars scheme at gold level for our promotion of more walking, cycling and use of public transport for school travel.

Healthy Schools Week: 22nd-26th January 2024

Healthy Schools

Healthy Schools Week: 24th-28th January 2022


The focus this year was to increase student participation and engagement in activities that promote a healthy lifestyle.

Our programme for the week included a range of fun and exciting activities for both staff and students to participate in. Our Healthy Schools Ambassadors kicked the week off with the Healthy Lifestyles Assemblies. These were pre-recorded due to the Covid restrictions and delivered during registration. Well done to Gloria (10.3), Ali (10.10), Dewanshi (9.7), and Shiven (8.9) for delivering a well-presented and informative assembly.

To start the week all Year 7 PE lessons were delivered by external sports coaches. The aim was to allow the students to experience a variety of activities that they would not normally experience during regular PE lessons. Activities included Taekwondo, Fencing, Dance, Boxing and New Age Kurling. Feedback from all sessions was extremely positive, students had a great time and expressed their desire for more of this type of activity on a regular basis.

Our new initiative the 5 minute Activity Break - pausing lessons at 12 noon each day for a brain energiser proved very popular with the students who participated. Students were encouraged to take part in a 5 minute movement break video recording which was led by Mr Brahim.

The Cycle to School Day Prize Draw Competition is always a regular feature on the timetable. Our lucky winner this year is Souzan from 7.12. Well done Souzan!

The Girls Dodgeball Tournament took place on Monday after school. What a fantastic turnout with over 35 girls in attendance. It was good to see the enthusiasm and engagement, with everyone was there to win. Girls from all year groups came together to enjoy some light-hearted but fiercely competitive team games. Our winning team: Bridge 7.7, Nasreen 7.1, Sanela 7.10, Joella 7.2 and Shugri 7.1

All after school clubs throughout the week were run as tournaments with medals awarded to the winning teams.  This was one of the highlights of the week, student feedback was extremely positive and again requests for more competitions with medals and trophies were high.

Well done to everyone who took part in the student fitness challenges, so many entries and such great scores too. Congratulations to our winners: 

Ami (7.6) - Star Jumps 
Dawod (10.6) - Push Ups
Raissa (9.1) - Sit Ups

On Tuesday, selected students attended a Healthy Lifestyles Zoom Meeting with an expert nutritionist. The general feedback was great. Students received invaluable healthy lifestyle advice and tips to enable them to make the best choices about their health and wellbeing.

“An excellent session that clearly explained the importance of good nutrition and a general healthy attitude towards eating, how it can affect mood, tiredness, capacity to learn as well as general health.” Mr G. Smith

As always, many thanks go out to Sue, Peter and our amazing catering team for all their hard work producing a fantastic healthy highlights menu and activities throughout the week.

On Wednesday, our Headteacher Mr Finn joined the team giving away free fruit to students in the dining hall.

Thursday’s Healthy Highlights taster dishes went down a storm with some really good feedback from both staff and students. Our guess the fruit competition winner this year is Sujana Chowdhury 10.10. Well done Sujana!

All students who attend the 7am early morning PE Clubs were treated to a special breakfast with their teachers Ms Thomas and Mr Brahim on Friday morning.  This was a reward for their continued commitment attending their clubs consistently throughout the term. It was a lovely opportunity for everyone to enjoy a good breakfast and a chat before the start of the school day.

Friday saw the return of the ever popular smoothies. These are an all-time favourite of our students. Although the smoothie bike was absent this year due to Covid restrictions, everyone agreed that the smoothies tasted as good as ever. We look forward to the bike making a welcomed return during our next Healthy Schools event.

The final event was the highlight of the week, the Girls Cycle Club trip to Lee Valley VeloPark. The venue situated in the heart of east London was just amazing to see. The girls participated in a one mile outdoor road circuit with a coach accompanied by Mr Broadbent. The course, with its hills and sharp corners was a little more challenging for some of the girls compared to their usual course around the Muga, but that made it even more enjoyable. Great fun was had by all and the girls are looking forward to another visit to VeloPark real soon. 

Green class ASD for Healthy Schools Week did a cooking life skills lesson on healthy fruit tasting and have also introduced Joe Wicks 5 minutes exercise daily. The class already do Mr Motivator every day.

Well done to all who took part in making the week such a great success.

Heather Thomas
 

Healthy Schools Week 2022

 

Sustrans is a sustainable transport charity which promotes active travel and in particular cycling to school throughout the year.  Some of the initiatives undertaken so far include:

  • Girls Bike Club – Promoting more activity amongst teenage girls
  • Bike Kit Sales – giving students and staff the opportunity to purchase essential equipment for their bikes at reasonable prices
  • Dr Bike Sessions – Mechanics come into school offering free safety checks on student and staff bikes
  • Ride to school – a healthy travel card is given to all students who ride to school which includes a free healthy breakfast
  • Sponsored bike rides to Little Ilford Park
  • BMX Bike ride – Trip to Olympic Park – reward trip for Youth Travel Ambassadors

 

 

 

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