HEALTHY CHILDREN
Since 2015 we have collaborated with youth organisations across Buckinghamshire to share how we can achieve optimum nutrition through cooking and other forms of self-care. Our fun, interactive, social and educational sessions have been very successful and continue to thrive and grow.
Why child health?
Not all parents, or schools have the time, knowledge or skills to support young people with food education as a method of improving life skills, educational skills, knowledge and awareness of our physical, emotional and mental health.
Foodie Fridays
This is our longest running project, which was conceived by Mama bee, together we have been working across High Wycombe Helping young people to enjoy cooking. Themes covered cooking with seasonal ingredients, cooking the food groups, cook a rainbow, veganising favourite dishes, our vegan “fakeaway”, dishes from around the world, master chef competition and pop-up restaurants. We have continued to engage with many young people face to face and even throughout lockdown, via zoom with the Foodie Friday Kitchen Takeover. The Foodie Friday’s project is on tour, being held at various locations around South Bucks, during 2023 – supporting more young people.
An extension of Foodie Fridays is the national HAF programme (Holiday Activity and Food). Again in collaboration with Mama Bee, we deliver cooking sessions with teenagers, eat lunch together and Mama Bee organise games and activities for all. Held in East Wycombe, these activities run throughout the school holidays for young people aged 11 and over.
Schools
We have designed our Head Start To Health project to integrate with the curriculum, educating young people on the importance of self-care to improve physical, emotional and mental well-being leading to increased self-awareness and confidence.
Our holistic approach to well-being takes into consideration that we all have different levels of knowledge, different learning styles and skills. Helping young people to apply Mathematics, Science and English to practical everyday tasks - helps to deepen learning and understanding and therefore brings a heightened understanding of the purpose of learning.
In class support – PSHE
During our course of P.S.H.E sessions, we discuss nutrition and how our choices impact the body, our purpose and the world - including eco and climate talks. We aim to help young people and arm them with tools to help them from childhood through to adult hood. The course can also be run as part of enrichment sessions, for students going through major transitions i.e., Year 6; 7; 10; 11 and Year 13 – to help them prepare physically, emotionally, and mentally for this new phase.
One day workshops
Beauty and the truth, a Wycombe youth action project, where Khepera and other organisations partner to run one day workshops for up to 30 pupils in schools - in our sessions we discuss inner versus outer beauty with pupils in year 6 upwards, with separate sessions for girls and boys, as we found this has led to more open discussions. Always engaging and dynamic, these sessions help teens talk openly about beauty, the perception of beauty and what beauty truly is. The Khepera sessions are always filled with activity, sharing the importance of self-care particularly for emotional and mental well-being, why nutrients are important for both and ways that we can manage and be mindful of our emotional/mental wellbeing - closing the sessions with a fun activity of creating homemade body products from every day, nutrient rich, ingredients.