Boosting better break‐times for children: an inspiring start

Abstract

Eating habits are changing, and snacking or "grazing" is on the increase, especially among children. Most of the convenient, pre-packaged snack foods such as fizzy drinks, chocolate, crisps and biscuits are high in fat, sugar, salt and calories. This has implications for health. For this reason the Southern Health and Social Services Board (SHSSB), Northern Ireland, together with the Southern Education and Library Board (SELB), Northern Ireland, decided to set up a scheme to reward schools which had a healthy break-time policy. Outlines an award scheme called Boost Better Breaks. All nursery, primary and post-primary schools in the SHSSB were encouraged to participate. One of the criteria for qualification was "If any food is permitted at break-time only fruit and/or milk can be taken". Nursery schools were also allowed to have healthy snacks. Finds that, of schools in the SHSSB, 9 per cent (27) received the award on its pilot run, and because of its success the award scheme has now been extended to playgroups and special schools.The Boost Better Breaks award scheme was successful because of the contributions of the following people: Ruth Balmer, Community Dietitian, SHSSB until January 1995, Anne Black, SELB Field Officer for Health Education, parents, principals, teachers and governors of schools who participated in the scheme and SHSSB dental staff.

Do school break-time policies influence child dental health and snacking behaviours? An evaluation of a primary school programme

“…Disturbed by the high prevalence of dental caries in primary school-aged children in Northern Ireland, Oliver developed a school-based policy called 'Boosting Better Breaks' (BBB) to counteract the effects of energy-dense but nutritionally poor snacks. 8 Adopting a community capacity approach Oliver negotiated with all stakeholders to ensure that principal teachers, class teachers, parents, wholesalers and providers of milk, fruit and vegetables developed partnerships to support the break-time policy. 9 The BBB break-time policy includes the introduction of school milk, water and fresh fruit at school break-times, the closing of tuck shops and the assurance from teachers that confectionery, cakes, biscuits or sugar-sweetened soft drinks will not be given as rewards or prizes.…”

Children’s consumption of snacks at school in Mauritius

“…The snacking habits of schoolchildren in upper primary (8-12 year old) have not been studied. Snacking habits of older children may be an area of greater concern since they become more independent, have more control over the foods they eat, and tend to have more pocket money than their younger counterparts (McKinley et al, 1995). This study was thus conducted to:…”

Addressing children's oral health inequalities in Northern Ireland: a research-practice-community partnership initiative

“…Second, a diverse team of community-based practitioners and research-based academics evaluated the program. 21 The marrying of these two levels of cooperation within a researchpractice-community partnership allowed strategy to be converted to policy and policy into action to address oral health inequalities of children in Northern Ireland.…”

“…The Boost Better Breaks (BBB) break-time policy was based on the belief that using community development to negotiate and develop a break-time snacking policy within the school environment would help empower children to make the "healthy choice the easy choice." 21 The policy was developed using a team of dieticians, school meal advisors, teachers, health promotion officers, and local dairy suppliers of school milk located within the rural community of the Southern Health and Social Services Board (SHSSB).…”