Students at Mascot Public School will participate in the crunch and sip program which is widely used across NSW schools. Crunch and sip involves the children having a drink of water and a small snack of fresh fruit or vegetables during the morning session at about 10am. The aim is to increase fruit and vegetable and water consumption and decrease consumption of energy dense foods and soft drinks. The children eat while in class but continue with lessons.
Crunch and sip promote healthy eating habits with minimal lesson disruption. Schools using this program have reported improvement in the student's ability to focus and concentrate on their work. Also, improved behaviour has been reported.
Students will need the following to participate in crunch and sip program. For drinks they include:
- water only
- refillable clear bottles to be used
- please empty, wash and refill daily.
For food they include:
- any washed fresh fruit
- any washed fresh vegetables
- dried fruit, but not too much as it is not good for teeth
- no canned or pre-packaged fruit or dried fruit
- all food needs to be in a re-usable container, for example, no throw away packaging, except whole small apples or bananas
- food that is not messy and easy to munch on while working, for example, not unpeeled uncut orange.
Examples of these foods include:
- celery sticks
- carrot sticks
- cut apple
- bite size pieces of melon
- berries
- snow peas.