An Enfield primary school has signed up to a national scheme in a bid cut down on childhood obesity.

Eastfield Primary School, Eastfield Road in Enfield Wash, is taking part in the ‘Change4Life’ campaign.

The school will be putting on cookery classes and encouraging children to make ‘Smart Swaps’ such as crisps for fruit.

Headteacher, Christalla Jamil believes that the initiative will help to “educate” children and parents into making healthier changes.

She said: “This is a really big issue and we want to educate parents and children to make simple changes to their packed lunches such as eating nutritious food instead of crisps.

“It is all about moderation, of course, we can’t expect everyone to stop eating unhealthy food entirely.”

The campaign is not just aimed at diets but will urge children to take part in more physical activity and growing their own foods.

When asked about her overall goal, Ms Jamil said that seeing a large percentage of her students changing their diets and exercise more would be the “icing on the cake.”

She added: “We are putting on free after school activities and we are making sure that pupils are doing more exercise in school hours. This is only the beginning and we will continue to tackle to issue.”

Councillor Christine Hamilton, cabinet member for community wellbeing and public health visited the school to promote the national policy.

She said: “We are delighted to support Enfield Council and the Smart Swaps initiative.

“For our children who choose to have packed lunches we really would like parents to make a healthy choice, for example choosing fruit and juice instead of crisps and biscuits. It is never too early to get into a healthy eating habit.”

For more information, go to https://smartswaps.change4life.co.uk/