Teach the healthy eating aspects of the national curriculum in a food positive way that both nurtures children’s body esteem and supports your students to have a healthy relationship with food.

Our Food Positive Healthy Eating scheme of work for KS1 has been designed and created by our team of multi-disciplinary experts in the field of body image and body-affirming nutrition and eating disorder prevention. This scheme has been tried and tested with multiple classes of children, in a large primary setting in the UK.

“We loved this scheme of work - it’s super clear and really appropriate for KS1. The resources were easily adaptable for different ability groups too. It was so great to have the content and resources so easily accessible, and the content was spot on in terms of accessing some tricky topics in a food neutral way. “

- Emily, KS1 teacher & PE lead, who piloted our scheme of work with her school

✔ Surpass Ofsted requirements and evidence your commitment to child wellbeing, safeguarding and inclusion.

✔ Meet national curriculum requirements with ease - no time consuming planning or expert experience required to deliver these sessions.

✔ Adapt to any curriculum and complement your wider school approach to health and wellbeing, inclusion and anti-bullying.

✔ Accessible for all budgets and supports the social economy - your download helps to fund other projects and initiatives that support student body esteem and wellbeing.

NEED TO KNOW:

💡 Written by a nutritionist, with consultation from an intuitive eating nutritionist, NHS children's eating disorders dietitian, and body image campaigner & educator.

💡 Piloted across a full year group in a large primary school in the UK.

💡 Designed to national curriculum and Ofsted requirements, and PSHE Association guidelines.

💡 Multi-dimensional format, with PowerPoint slides, activity sheets, full scheme overview and rationale.

💡 Adaptable to suit individual student and school needs.

Click here to read our blog post explaining the rationale behind this approach to food education

Click here to see a sample of the scheme

KEY LEARNING OBJECTIVES ACROSS THE FULL SCHEME:

• To understand that a variety of food and drinks are needed in a balanced diet.

• To recognise the wide range of factors involved in food choice (preference, culture, cost, allergies, religion etc).

• To understand the multiple roles food plays in our lives.

• To begin to grasp basic concepts about nutrition, such as food groups, and that ingredients are put together to form dishes.

• To develop a healthy relationship with food and our bodies.

• To learn about implementing healthy behaviours.

SCHEME OF WORK CONTAINS:

• Overview

Full scheme overview with detailed teaching notes, rationale and wider context information, with adaptable and editable lesson plan for five lessons mapped to national curriculum and Ofsted requirements, and PSHE Association guidelines.

• Impact report template

Impact sheet to evidence your commitment to student health and wellbeing initiatives with the school setting.

• Lesson slides

Multi-dimensional PowerPoint slides for ease of delivery and maximum student engagement. Includes eye-catching design featuring class discussion prompts, quizzes, activity outlines and key information.

• Activity sheets

Fun and engaging activity sheets for a range of different types of self-assessment and guided breakout learning.

• Aftercare Guidance

Aftercare Guidance document for schools and families to support positive body esteem and healthy relationships with food, and to help to identify early issues with food and eating, along with signposting to sources of support.

LESSON BREAKDOWN:

Click here to view a sample of the lessons and resources

💡 Lesson one: Why do we need food and what does it do?

Key learning objectives: to understand the multiple roles food plays in our lives; to learn that we need to eat regularly throughout the day; to appreciate that we all have different preferences when it comes to food; to develop understanding of senses and sensory vocabulary.

Key words: energy, grow, process

💡 Lesson two: Food groups and variety

Key learning objectives: to learn the names of the major food groups and some of the foods in these groups; to understand that we need to eat and drink a variety of these foods to look after our bodies.

Key words: food group, carbohydrate, protein, fat

💡 Lesson three: Ingredients and building a meal

Key learning objectives: to name and ‘prepare’ a range of ingredients and recipes, reflecting cultural diversity; to recognise the wide range of factors involved in food and drink choice (preference, culture, religion, health reasons, cost); to grasp food privilege and food insecurity.

Key words: ingredients, recipe, food insecurity

💡 Lesson four: Healthy eating is having a healthy relationship with food, part one

Key learning objectives: to understand the multiple roles food plays in our lives; to develop a healthy relationship with food and our bodies; to introduce concepts of mindful eating; to introduce positive body image

Key words: relationship, body image, special occasion

💡 Lesson five: Healthy eating is having a healthy relationship with food, part two

Key learning objectives: to understand a variety of healthy behaviours for our bodies and minds and how to implement them; to develop a healthy relationship with food and our bodies; to develop positive body image

Key words: healthy behaviours, body image, movement

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A note on neurodivergent-affirming food education

We are careful not to use the term "fussy eating" as this can stigmatise children who have particular preferences, which can exist for all sorts of reasons. One of these reasons can be neurodivergence. For example, evidence shows that children who are autistic are more likely to have a restricted diet, more limited food repertoire and greater food refusal than their peers, due to factors such as higher levels of sensory sensitivity, preference for routine, behavioural inflexibility, motor problems or gastrointestinal symptoms. This scheme of work emphasises that we can look after our bodies by eating a variety of different foods. It is important to understand that for some children this may be a particularly challenging concept and one which feels unsafe to them. Therefore, we advise addressing this topic sensitively and in an affirming manner. There is focus elsewhere in the scheme of work on appreciating and accepting that we all eat in different ways and have different preferences. Aftercare Guidance is included in this scheme to assist teachers with identifying potential safeguarding issues around food, disordered eating behaviour and eating disorders, along with signposting to further sources of support.