Healthy Eating Week | A Healthy Body Promotes a Strong Mind

A healthy body promotes a strong mind. At Wellington College health is a key part of our educational programme. The Reception children finished off 'Healthy Eating Week' with a bang! They spent the week learning about different ways to be healthy, from exercising, to eating healthy foods, and having a positive attitude. As a closing activity, they looked at some different types of food and decided if they were healthy foods which they could eat a lot of, or if they were unhealthy foods which they should only eat a little bit of. Once they had determined which foods were healthy and unhealthy, they then used the healthy foods to make their own healthy meals. Some children made a Fruit Salad using lots of different fruits which they could name, taking turns to safely use the big, sharp cutting knife to chop up their fruit. Other children took the opportunity to make some nice healthy sandwiches, using different fresh salad ingredients, chicken and brown bread. They too, got a chance to safely use the big, sharp cutting knife to slice up some of their sandwich ingredients. All of the Reception children can now tell you if a food is healthy or not and what happens if they keep their bodies healthy, and what will happen if they do not. Help us to help your children; support their healthy eating at home and at school; encourage them to eat their '5-a-Day' (5 portions of fruits and vegetables every day). Ask them whether their food choices are healthy and encourage them to make the healthier choice. During the Healthy Eating Week, we also invited a Dentist to the campus to check the children's teeth and discuss how to keep them healthy. The dentist spent time to teach them how to use a tooth brush correctly and recommended the best time to clean your teeth. Professional advices on how to prevent tooth decay and how do you protect your children's teeth at home from Ms Candy, Head of School Nurse Firstly, children need a dental care preventive treatment, in addition to careful brushing every morning and evening. A fluoride treatment is suggested as it can inhibit harmful bacteria, enhance tooth resistance, strengthen teeth, repair tooth decay and reduce allergies. Secondly, parents are advised to pay close attention as to whether the first permanent tooth has erupted in children around 6 years old. If it has erupted, children should visit the clinic to seal the pits and fissures of their teeth as it can prevent accumulation of food residue. If we use resin to seal the pits and grooves when the tooth is just developing, there will be no residue and no cavities. Finally, how do you protect your children's teeth at home? From the moment of birth, parents should begin their children's proper oral hygiene. By using a clean cloth to wipe their toothless gums and using a soft bristle toothbrush when teeth begin to grow. Until the age of 6 years, parents should still support their children in brushing their teeth in the morning and at night to ensure teeth are cleaned properly. Children should also consume less sweets and less carbonated drinks and brush their teeth after drinking milk, especially before going to bed at night. Gurgling with water or age appropriate mouthwash is also important before going to bed. Then on Tuesday, 25th September, the children went on a visit to a medical clinic in Tianjin. There they met Dr. Catherine and her team, Nurse Tony and Nurse Serena. The medical team answered all of the questions which the children had thought of about the human body and how healthy food affects our bodies. Nurse Tony used a demonstration dummy to show us the different organs inside of the human body and talked to the children about how they work and what they are used for – 'Organ Explanation'. At the same time, Nurse Serena and Dr. Catherine, took a group of children to find out what happens when people go to the doctors for a check-up – a 'Consultation Experience'. Nurse Serena checked their blood pressure using the blood pressure cuff and took their temperature using one of the fancy new scanner thermometers. They were all very brave and no one got upset about the blood pressure cuff squeeze on their arm. The children were very excited to even be able to listen to their own heart beats; Dr. Catherine used a stethoscope to find their heart beats and then let them use it to have a listen for themselves. All of the children got to participate in both the 'Organ Explanation' and the 'Consultation Experience'. The children really enjoyed the opportunity to explore and ask questions in the clinic and hopefully this will help any nervous children with visits to the doctors in the future. Education comes in all shapes and forms and health is an integral part of what we do here at the College. By ensuring that all children have a healthy start physically, this will help support a healthy development in their social and academic skills.