Education case study: Amy Bergiers – Nantgaredig Primary School, Wales

Amy Bergiers is a teacher at Nantgaredig Primary School in Wales. She told us about how she uses AHDB resources to teach her pupils about nutrition, cooking and where food comes from.

Ensuring children are healthy is paramount to primary school teacher Amy Bergiers, as she believes it acts as a building block for everything – a healthy body equates to a healthy mind. Therefore, having the resources to educate children on diet and nutrition, as well as gaining a better understanding of where their food comes from, is a major part of the curriculum at her school.

AHDB partners with the British Nutrition Foundation to deliver the Food – a fact of life education programme to support teaching of children aged three to 16 years.

For the past 12 years, Amy has been utilising the education resources to help her pupils gain a well-rounded understanding of what they put into their bodies.

She states that the colourful, interactive videos, PowerPoints and stories deliver important messages to her seven to 11-year-olds in a fun and engaging way.

“It is important that children, from a young age, know where their food comes from and have a clear understanding of the sugar content in their meals and drinks as well as how to cook healthy and balanced dishes,” she added.

“The resources from AHDB and the British Nutrition Foundation do a fantastic job in helping to educate our pupils about all things food and the children really enjoy the colourful visuals, as well as the activity packs and worksheets.  

“Learning how to cook and having the confidence to experiment with food is a life skill – which, for me as a teacher, is a priority when planning my lessons. I believe it is so important that schools equip pupils with the necessary skills needed for a healthy and long life.”

With the new school term starting, Amy will this month start a fresh two-year teaching cycle in her classroom on the theme of food.

She added: “As we begin the new school year, I’ve been busy familiarising myself with the Food – a fact of life resources and it’s impressive – there’s so much more available than previous years.

“What is fantastic is that all the resources are editable, which means that we can add further content to suit our needs. As a primary school in the Welsh countryside, what we require for teaching might be different from a city-based school, so there is the flexibility to adapt the content for every classroom regardless of their location.”

Resources are constantly reviewed and updated by the partners, with a Food - a fact of life conference held annually in different regions across the country to keep teachers informed about any new developments and additions to the website.

As a member of the British Nutrition Foundation’s Welsh Education Working Group, Amy is also able to feed back her thoughts and ideas, as well as being able to highlight any requirements specifically for her region.

“We are now able to translate some of the content into Welsh, which is amazing,” Amy said. “This was one of the suggestions raised within the working group and subsequently fed back to AHDB. Being able to communicate what new resources are required, is hugely valuable.

“What’s also great is the depth of knowledge on the website. It is clear the resources have been written by people with a real understanding of the subject and what works in the classroom.

“And as the resources have been designed to target different age groups, the children can continue their learning as they progress through each school year. We are also able to move into the higher age group resources when we want to challenge our pupils.”

As part of her role as a Healthy Schools Coordinator, Amy has been promoting the website to other teachers and is encouraging schools across the UK to make the most of AHDB and the British Nutrition Foundation’s resources.

She said: “I think that all schools should take advantage of this free education programme. The website is very much a one-stop shop and it saves so much time looking for resources on multiple sites. I can honestly say that Food - a fact of life makes life so much easier for teachers and is an ideal resource to help this younger generation prepare for the next chapter in their lives.”

Food - a fact of life is available for all schools, and is filled with valuable resources on food, farming, healthy eating and cooking.