Fruit Super Squad: Healthy Schools

"“Fruit Super Squad: Healthy Schools” it’s a two-year Strategic Partnership for Exchange of Good Practices in School Education, and involves public schools and non-profit private organizations, from Portugal, Italy, Greece, Cyprus and Turkey.Despite action at the European level to reverse the rising trend in overweight and obesity, the proportion children who are overweight or obese is rising and worryingly high. This is a distressing situation given the strong link between excess adiposity and detrimental health and psychosocial outcomes in later life.The school is a privileged and decisive place for the promotion of health, namely for the daily teaching and practice of healthy eating and physical activity. It is recognized the importance and efficacy of food education, alongside actions of health promotion and education, when the acquisition of healthy eating behaviours during childhood is intended. Food education presents itself as an essential component of learning in a school context, since the school is the place where children spend much of their day. Given the crucial role of the schools and teachers, it is vital to promote their understanding on the topic, to develop their competences, and to give them access to good-quality resources, up-to-date information and training and guidance on food, nutrition and physical activity. However, are there schools and teachers prepared to work this type of subjects with their students?This project intends to be a structured response to this need through an exchange of good practices, allowing the organisations from different fields, and its staff, to develop and reinforce networks, share and confront ideas, practices and methods, and increase their operational and strategic capacity.“Fruit Super Squad: Healthy Schools” aims an exchange of good practices between partners, to develop a European Methodology for promoting healthy eating habits in schools, for children aged 3-10.Our work will be based on a good practice from Portugal – “Fruit Heroes”, and with exchange of knowledge, practices and support from European partners, we will adapt the methodology for European implementation and create “Fruit Super Squad” methodology.«Fruit Heroes» is, firstly, the name of the health education initiative that APCOI-Portuguese Association against Childhood Obesity develops since 2011 and has already improved the life habits of 312,710 students, 15,758 classes, 4,497 Pre-school and 1st cycle educational establishments in all districts in Portugal. According to the researchers of the Faculty of Medicine of Lisbon, scientific partner of the ""fruit Heroes Method"", more than 40% of the children participating in the last edition of the ""Fruit Heroes"" project increased their daily consumption of fruit and vegetables in just 12 weeks, significantly improving their weight and nutritional assessment. Directorate General for Health, National reading plan and school library network are some of the institutional partners of this project, as well as 72 local municipalities.Strategic Objectives: 1. To share good practices between partners for School Health Education and childhood overweight and obesity prevention in Europe;2. To create and test “Fruit Super Squad” methodology;3. To develop multipliers/educators/teachers’ competences to implement “Fruit Super Squad” Program in European schools;4. To create “Fruit Super Squad” European Schools Network."