Shepway District Council and its partners wanted to increase awareness and understanding among children and their families of how to adopt healthier lifestyles, in particular through eating more healthily and taking regular exercise. The Council’s environmental education officers, as part of a wider programme of environmental and health education work, commissioned an interactive show that took place in 37 primary schools.

The aim of the initiative was to improve the health of children in Shepway by improving knowledge and awareness of what they ate, how they could eat more healthily and how important it was to keep active. Specific objectives included to:

• provide information on the different types of food that they may eat
• explain how bodies process food when it is eaten
• explain why some foods are healthier than others
• encourage choosing to eat more healthily
• explain why exercise is so important and encourage it.

Environmental health officers from Shepway District Council worked with the theatre company ‘Circus Takeaway’ to develop a show about Nutrition and Exercise to perform in local primary schools. The content of the show evolved through consultation and discussions with the primary schools themselves, Primary Care Trust, Healthy Schools Co-ordinator, environmental education officers from Shepway District Council and the theatre company. Pre show questionnaires were sent to all the schools asking for areas of concern and areas to be focused on. As many relevant areas as possible were included in the show.

The theatre company visited two schools per day one in the morning and one in the afternoon. All shows were pre-booked with the schools approximately six weeks in advance. The 45 minute play was delivered to each primary school. It was an interactive, fun and entertaining show which ensured that the audience of children aged 4 to 11 years received the key messages about healthy eating and exercise in an exciting, memorable and entertaining way.

A follow up pack was produced for each school with some suggestions for activities that could be completed in class. Each child was given a Fun Fit Food show leaflet to take home to reinforce their learning and continue the message to the family unit. Whilst the Fun Fit Food shows were running in the schools the District Council also introduced a competitively priced ‘Veg Bag’ scheme to encourage more families to eat more vegetables.

The show took place in 37 of the 39 primary schools in Shepway and reached around 10,000 children.

Evaluation questionnaires were used to gain feedback from children and teachers and additional verbal feedback was obtained from parents. The feedback from the children was positive. They enjoyed the characters from the show and took on board the messages of drinking more water and eating more fruit and vegetables as well as about reducing their fat, sugar and salt intake. 84% of children asked said that they would try to eat more fruit and vegetables.

Teachers felt that the show was an excellent method of promoting important messages about healthy eating and exercise to children in a fun and memorable way. 86% said that the performance fully complemented the work they were covering in schools on healthy eating and exercise. The remaining 14% said it complemented some of the work they were doing.

The healthy eating message is getting across to parents to. Verbal feedback from parents indicated that young people took back the messages from the show to their parents and siblings. The Veg Bag scheme has also now grown to over 700 bags a week in the Shepway area.

Funding came from a Food Standards Agency's Food Hygiene and Nutrition Grant of £11,500. The venue for each show was provided by the school, with equipment and the show itself provided by Circus Takeaway.

Shepway District Council environmental education officers led the project. Other partners included:

• Primary Care Trust (PCT)
• A nutritionist
• Healthy schools coordinator
• Teacher representative for healthy schools
• Circus Takeaway who produced the play
• Food and Drink Federation who supplied ‘The Activaters’ education pack for every school