Heany Park outside school hours care

[Text displayed on screen] Healthy Eating Advisory Service. Healthy eating in outside of school hours care. Nutrition Australia. Victoria State Government.  

[Sue Houghton, OSHC Co-ordinator, Heany Park Primary School] After attending the Healthy Eating Advisory Service training session, we looked at what our menu offered.  

We thought even though we do offer a lots of variety of vegetables and fruits, that it would be nice to offer it in a different way. So we introduced salads.  

I think the main challenge is going to be the children, and that is whether they’re going to try your foods, whether they find it exciting and appealing. 

[Susan Collier, OSHC assistant, Heany Park Primary School] We always try to model good behavior or positive behavior around food.  

So we’ll sit down with the kids in the afternoons and enjoy the afternoon tea with them. And we’ll discuss what we’re eating, why we like it, why perhaps we don’t, and what we could do about it.  

[Sue Houghton, OSHC Co-ordinator, Heany Park Primary School] That’s a radish. Has anybody ever tried them before?  

[Speaker (unidentified), student, Heany Park Primary School] I have discovered a lot of different foods. For the first time, you can be quite surprised by the taste. And normally you do adjust it.  

[Speaker (unidentified), student, Heany Park Primary School] I really like them.  

[Speaker (unidentified), student, Heany Park Primary School] I like the taste.  

[Sue Houghton, OSHC Co-ordinator, Heany Park Primary School] Our cooking facilities are very what I call quite basic. We don’t try to stretch ourselves just basic, simple afternoon teas.  

It is possible to save money whilst preparing healthy food. And one of that ways is to not always buy the top brands.  

You just have to be thinking, thinking ahead and try not to do something that’s too difficult.  

[Speaker (unidentified), student, Heany Park Primary School] My favourite food is the English muffins and watermelon.  

[Speaker (unidentified), student, Heany Park Primary School] I like eating pasta.  

[Speaker (unidentified), student, Heany Park Primary School] Apples, pears.  

[Speaker (unidentified), student, Heany Park Primary School] The rice cakes. 

[Speaker (unidentified), student, Heany Park Primary School] Watermelon, and carrots. 

[Speaker (unidentified), student, Heany Park Primary School] I like how they have the option of the salad and the milk. 

[Speaker (unidentified), student, Heany Park Primary School] We sometimes have boiled eggs, scrambled eggs.  

[Speaker (unidentified), student, Heany Park Primary School] It just alternates throughout the year. It’s pretty cool. 

[Susan Collier, OSHC assistant, Heany Park Primary School] We promote healthy eating to the parents by always having the menus on display for both for breakfast and afternoon tea, so they can always access those.  

We distributed the information that we got from the Healthy Eating Advisory Service to each of the families.  

[Sue Houghton, OSHC Co-ordinator, Heany Park Primary School] I think some of the benefits are that the children do seem happier. They actually do seem to enjoy it a lot more.  

It seems to be a lot more social. They talk to the staff about the food. We’re able to role model to them. They’re able to engage in conversations with them regarding healthy food and they actually share that with their parents as well. So they’re obviously enjoying it.  

I think it educates the children and the parents to what healthy eating is. 

[Text displayed on screen] Healthy Eating Advisory Service. Victoria State Government. Nutrition Australia. www.heas.health.vic.gov.au.  

[Text displayed on screen] CC. Music. robwalkerpoet. ccmixter.org