TEACHING children about the importance of choosing healthy food choices has landed one primary school with a top award.

Lethbridge Primary say they were over the moon to be recognised with a silver Healthy Eating Award this week for their project to educate, enable and empower their children to become healthier.

Over the course of the year, the school, guided by a dedicated healthy schools council, pledged to reduce the overall consumption of fatty foods and sugary drinks among pupils.

As part of the project the school carried out numerous activities to curb their bad eating habits by handing out leaflet campaigns to pupils while also setting up a new healthy tuck shop.

Swapping sweet treats like chocolate and waffles to dried fruit and veggie sticks, the tuck shop has become a big hit with pupils as well as numerous recipe ideas handed out to parents - something the school was impressed to see.

Tara Moran, the healthy school coordinator at Lethbridge Primary said: “We have worked hard to get the children to think healthily and they have really enjoyed it.

“From the activities we did in lessons and as a school, it got the pupils to think about what they eat and what they could improve on. Many of them said they would look at reducing the amount of chocolate they eat and instead eat fruit.

“We have noticed changes in their behaviour and their attitude to food and healthy eating and so from our perspective it has been really inspiring for them.”

The school also took the ambitious project into lessons as pupils learnt about digestion and tooth decay in science whereas in PSHE they looked at the benefits of eating healthy.

Year 4 children also designed their own healthy snack bars, choosing all of the ingredients before coming up with a marketing plan to sell their products.

After the summer break the school will get to work on achieving a gold award and hope to take their work out into the community to receive the accolade.