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Kids swap classroom for kitchen

Feed your Whanau: free in-school cooking programme rolling out across NZ
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To get kids excited about nutrition and healthy eating, students across New Zealand are being given the chance to swap the classroom for the kitchen. 

Nestlé and Safe Kids in Daily Supervision (sKids) have collaborated to deliver a free in-school cooking and nutrition programme for primary schools, aiming to educate and empower kids with the skills and confidence to cook at home.  

The four-week programme, called Feed Your Whanau, will educate kids on healthy eating habits and cooking skills in a fun environment. At the end of the programme, students get a take home kit which includes ingredients so that they can put their learning into action and serve up a meal for their family.  

Written for teachers, and aligned to the New Zealand school curriculum, Feed Your Whanau covers four fun and engaging topics: 
1.    Introduction to a healthy meal, including food groups and daily servings 
2.    How to grow and care for produce at home
3.    The importance of eating a ‘rainbow’ diet for good nutrition 
4.    Hygiene and kitchen safety; and, at-home cooking with family

Nestlé NZ Corporate Brand Manager, Amanda McDermott, says Nestlé is proud to partner with sKids to offer Feed Your Whanau and help kids develop lifelong skills that can be taken home and shared with whanau. 

“With the changing nature of our school curriculum and family lifestyles, we’re conscious that educating kids in the kitchen is falling by the wayside. Research shows that 27 per cent* of parents admit their children never help with cooking at home – and we believe in part this is because they don’t know how,” said McDermott. 

“Working with sKids has allowed us to create a programme that is fun for kids and easy for teachers to implement, ensuring we’re helping to address a very important issue.”

sKids Marketing Manager, Rebecca Woolfall, says the new programme Feed Your Whanau has attracted a lot of positive feedback from primary schools and is continuing to grow. 

“We’re delighted to see the uptake from schools, with more than 1,700 students signed up.  Teachers are impressed with the enthusiasm in the classroom when learning about cooking and food nutrition,” said Woolfall.  

Globally, Nestlé is aiming to help 50 million children worldwide lead healthier lives by 2030 through its ‘Nestlé for Healthier Kids’ initiative. Development of programmes such as Feed Your Whanau are part of Nestlé’s commitment to help deliver this initiative for children across New Zealand. 

Feed Your Whanau is available to all primary schools in New Zealand, for more information head to nestle.co.nz/n4hk.