Former Wales rugby player helps pupils learn about healthy eating

A former Wales rugby star has been helping primary school pupils discover where their food comes from and encouraging them to try fresh, locally grown vegetables as part of a nationwide healthy eating initiative.

Pupils at Willowtown Community Primary School in Ebbw Vale is one of five primary schools in Blaenau Gwent taking part in Castell Howell Foods’ ‘Growing Healthy Futures’ programme.

The initiative connects Welsh growers, schools, caterers, and communities to try and increase the amount of local grown organic produce used in school meals and promote healthy lifestyles.

As part of this programme, the ‘Superhero Food’ campaign is a drive to help primary school pupils embrace the power healthy eating through discovery, activities and collaboration.

Delivered by Castell Howell’s Steff Evans, former Scarlets and Wales rugby player, children discovered how the three ‘superhero vegetables’ – carrots, broccoli and cauliflower – provide key vitamins.

As part of the session, pupils learned about the journey food takes from farm to plate, the benefits of eating fresh vegetables and the important role farmers play in producing healthy, sustainable food.

Steff said: “It was a fantastic day at Willowtown Primary, and it was great to see how engaged and enthusiastic the children were throughout the sessions.

“What was particularly encouraging was seeing that excitement continue into the dining hall, where pupils were eager to try both raw and cooked vegetables.

“The aim of this initiative is to help children develop a positive relationship with food by understanding where it comes from, exploring the benefits of fresh produce, and highlighting the balanced, nutritious school meals available to them every day.”

Steff added that it was “incredibly rewarding” to see the children trying new foods and learning more, adding: “Helping young people build healthy habits from an early age can have a lasting impact, and programmes like this play an important role in making healthy eating both enjoyable and accessible.”

Castell Howell Foods currently supplies ingredients for an estimated 850,000 school and college meals every week and has developed Growing Healthy Futures to help build resilient food supply chains.

Growing Healthy Futures builds on the success of the Welsh Veg in Schools programme, which has significantly increased the volume of Welsh-grown organic vegetables reaching school dinner plates across Wales.

The initiative supports local farmers and growers while helping children access fresh, nutritious ingredients through school meals.

Councillor Sue Edmunds, Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Families said: “This is a fantastic initiative, giving children the opportunity to learn more about healthy food, try fresh local produce and meet inspiring role models such as Steff Evans all helps to bring healthy eating to life for them.

“We are committed to working with partners and communities to give children the best start in life and reduce health inequalities and programmes like this support that mission.”

Rebecca Hughes, Family & Community Engagement Lead at the school, added: “The health and wellbeing of our pupils is at the heart of everything we do, and food literacy is a golden thread running throughout our curriculum.

“We are so excited to be part of the Welsh Veg in Schools project and having Steff Evans join us to deliver an engaging assembly and inspiring lesson plans gave our children the opportunity to understand not only the importance of eating vegetables, but also to explore, talk about and celebrate fresh, healthy food.

“Our canteen was full of energy and excitement as every learner was given the opportunity to add fresh carrots, broccoli and cauliflower to their meal. Seeing children so enthusiastically trying and talking about vegetables was fantastic.

“We’re determined to keep that momentum going beyond today. We’ll be offering a raw variety of the vegetables on our daily snack trolley, hosting cooking sessions featuring recipes that celebrate these vegetables, and planning future tasting sessions so that our children can continue to explore new flavours, textures and ways of enjoying fresh produce.”

The programme brings together partners including growers, local authorities and wholesalers across Wales to strengthen links between the Welsh horticulture sector and education settings to support more sustainable food supply chains.

Welsh Veg in Schools was founded by Food Sense Wales, Lantra and Castell Howell and is funded by the Welsh Government’s Local Places for Nature Challenge fund.

---

Get more trusted Welsh news

Choose Nation.Cymru as a preferred source in Google News to see more of our journalism.