Westgate Primary Champions Healthy Eating with the Just One More Campaign
This blog has been written by the Assistant Headteacher of Westgate Primary school, as a spotlight on their good practice, and in support of the Child Friendly Leeds 12 wishes. Particularly, Wish 9 which is all around making healthy choices.
At Westgate Primary School, encouraging healthy habits is something we’re passionate about. That’s why we were proud to take part in the Just One More campaign, which encourages children to eat just one more portion of fruit or vegetables each day. Led by our dedicated Food Ambassadors, the campaign was a huge success across the school and brought healthy eating to the forefront in a fun and engaging way.
Food ambassadors
Our team of enthusiastic Food Ambassadors—pupils from across Key Stage 2—played a key role in promoting the campaign. They took on the responsibility of spreading the message about the importance of eating more fruit and vegetables, both at school and at home. They created posters, spoke in assemblies, and helped lead classroom discussions around healthy eating.
Getting competitive!
To make the campaign even more exciting, as well as the Leeds competition the Food Ambassadors ran a school-wide competition inviting children to take part at home with their parents. Pupils were encouraged to design a healthy meal, create a colourful fruit or vegetable sculpture, or simply show how they were adding “just one more” fruit or veg into their day. The creativity and enthusiasm were incredible, and we received a fantastic number of entries, each one showing real thought and care about healthier food choices.
“I loved the competition. I enjoyed making a healthy meal with my family.” – Year 4 pupil
“It was fun seeing all the entries that came in for the competition. I liked working with the food ambassadors to choose a school winner.” – Henry, Year 3 Food Ambassador
At lunchtimes, the Food Ambassadors were also on hand to hand out stickers to children who made healthy choices—whether by eating all their lunch, trying a new vegetable, or adding an extra piece of fruit. These small rewards had a big impact and helped keep motivation high.
The impact
The campaign has sparked so many positive conversations around food, both in school and at home. It’s been a great reminder that even small changes can make a big difference.
Our kitchen staff also love getting involved and regularly make fruit sculptures to display at lunchtime (below). The children love seeing these and encourages them to choose fruit for their desserts.
We also held our own in-school competition, which gave us the chance to showcase some of the fantastic entries and reward the creativity and effort shown. Now we’re excited to hear from the School Wellbeing Team—and we’re keeping our fingers crossed for the city wide competition!
Taking part in the Just One More campaign has not only been a fun and rewarding experience but also a brilliant way to embed our school values around healthy living and wellbeing. Thank you to everyone who took part and helped make it such a success.
About Wish 9
There is work taking place within Leeds City Council, lead by our ‘Wish Lead’, on Wish 9 right now. The short-term priorities are:
- Reduce screen time of children and young people by delivering workshops to primary and secondary school staff
- Deliver the ‘Just One More’ campaign to support children and families to eat more vegetables
- provide Healthy Holiday programmes for families with children on Free Schools Meals (FSM), which deliver culturally and physical activity opportunities.
You can read more about Wish 9 and find resources here
