Healthy lifestyles for children and families

Benefits of living a healthy lifestyle

Living a healthy lifestyle has many benefits for children and families.

These can include:

  • more energy
  • improved mood and mental health
  • increased self-confidence
  • better physical health and wellbeing

Eating well and regular exercise are key to a healthy lifestyle. 

We are here to support you and your family to live a healthy lifestyle, including advice on healthy eating and a range of sports and exercise activities to enjoy. 

Visit our infant feeding page for information and advice for children under 2, including:

  • breastfeeding support
  • responsive bottle feeding
  • free vitamins
  • oral health

For all other children and young people, please see the advice and resources on this page.

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Healthy eating

It can be hard to know what advice to follow to ensure you and your family are eating healthily. The NHS recommends eating a balanced diet, with a wide variety of foods in the right amounts.

You can use the NHS Eat Well Guide to help you balance your meals.

Some other key tips include:

  • swap fizzy drinks, juice drinks, and flavoured milks for water and plain, lower-fat milk
  • reduce your number of sugary snacks – homemade snacks with fruits and vegetables are a great choice!
  • if children are eating packaged snacks, aim for a maximum of 2 per day
  • remember children are smaller than adults and give them smaller portions to begin with – if they’re hungry they will ask for more!
  • use the free NHS Food Scanner app to find out what’s in your food and find healthier options

School meals are a great choice and should adhere to the government’s school food standards.

Every primary school child in a Haringey government-funded school can get free school meals. Please see our free school meals pages for further information.

If you prefer to make a packed lunch for your child, have a look at our packed lunch guide for parents (pdf, 4 page(s), 3.11 MB) to help you create healthy and fun lunches.

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Haringey’s exercise and sports offer

Physical activity is incredibly important for children and adults to lead healthy lives. It is recommended that children do at least one hour of physical activity every day.

There are lots of sports and exercise opportunities for children and young people in Haringey, including discounted leisure centre membership for those under 16.

See our children and young people sport and activities page for information on:

  • school holiday activities
  • sports and activities in parks
  • leisure centres
  • our Get Out and Get Active (GOGA) programme for people with and without disabilities

Haringey’s Youth Hubs also offer a wide range of sports and exercise, as do local community spaces like the Selby Centre in North Tottenham.

Other local sports and exercise opportunities include:

For any queries or additional information on sports and exercise available in Haringey, please email Get.Active@Haringey.Gov.uk

Active Travel

We encourage children to walk, cycle, or scooter to school – which is better for their health and the environment! We support children to actively travel to school through:

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Healthy lifestyle and weight management services

You, or a health professional, may feel that your family needs more support to achieve or maintain a healthy lifestyle or to manage your weight. There are some local services that can support.

Your GP

It is important that every member of your household is registered with a GP (General Practitioner). If you are concerned about you or your child’s weight, your GP can offer an assessment, advice, and guidance and refer to a dietician or specialist if required. Please contact your GP to make an appointment.

If you’re not currently registered with a GP, you can find your nearest GP practice on the NHS website.

Child Weight Management Service

The Child Weight Management Service offers support for 5-18-year-old children and families in the East of Haringey to instil healthier lifestyle practices by making healthier food choices, eating more balanced meals, and finding ways to improve physical activity levels.

You can ask your GP or school nurse for more information about the service to see if it is appropriate for your family.

HENRY Programme

The HENRY Healthy Families programme is a free group course for Haringey parents with children under 5. It runs across 8 weeks, for 2 and a half hours per week and focuses on whole-family nutrition, healthy weight and child development. 

The HENRY approach brings together support for parenting efficacy, family emotional wellbeing and behaviour change with information about nutrition, physical activity, oral health and more.

For more details, or to request a place, please email whh-tr.henryreferrals@nhs.net or visit the HENRY website.

Better Health – Healthier Families

NHS Better Health offers advice and guidance, including healthy and easy recipe ideas. You can also sign up to their 8-week email programme to receive lots of low-cost easy tips, fun games, healthy food swaps, and tasty recipes on a budget.

Sign up to Better Health today 

Haringey Community Children's Dietitians

Haringey has 2 complex needs children’s dietitians, working in Child Development Services and Haringey Special Schools. They help babies and children aged 0 to 19 years with complex special needs and those with a life-limiting illness who require additional nutrition support. 

They do not currently have a general dietitian for children without complex needs and cannot accept referrals for allergies or weight loss management. For further information, visit Haringey Community Children’s Dietitians on the Whittington Health NHS Trust website.

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Advice for schools

Schools play a major role in children’s lives and are a key part of their health and wellbeing. They create opportunities for physical activity, provide food and drink, and teach children the key concepts for their physical and mental health and wellbeing.

Haringey Healthy Schools works with schools across Haringey to create healthier environments and improve health and wellbeing outcomes for children. See below for key ways your school can support pupils to lead healthier lifestyles. 

If you have any questions or need any advice or support, please contact healthy.schools@harinegy.gov.uk

School food and drink

All schools must adhere to the Department for Education (DfE) standards for school food, and we encourage schools to go beyond this to further support healthy eating and lifestyles.

Haringey Healthy Schools recommends that all schools:

  • have a named SLT Lead for Healthy Eating in your school
  • adopt a Whole School Food and Drink Policy (including sugar reduction and how you meet or exceed the statutory DfE Standards). This should be published on the school website and reviewed by consultation every 1-3 years
  • ensure healthy eating, including cooking and nutrition, is taught within the school curriculum and that links are made between these lessons, school food policies, and children’s lifestyles
  • provide a welcoming, social, and attractive eating environment for pupils – this should be clean and hygienic and allow children to sit down and eat in a relaxed and sociable setting
  • encourage pupils to eat healthily outside of lunch time offer by, for example, offering free fruit as snacks, having a healthy breakfast club provision, or through school events and trips
  • promote Haringey Healthy School’s packed lunch guide for parents (pdf, 4 page(s), 3.11 MB), and discourage pupils from bringing in unhealthy lunches or snacks
  • ensure that there is free, clean, palatable drinking water available to students at all times – at lunch time, in the classroom, in the playground, etc.
  • become a water-only school, where plain water and reduced fat milk are the only drinks permitted (except for medical reasons) and other drinks are not sold at school and actively discouraged from being brought in – see the Mayor of London guide to becoming a water-only school

The Healthy Schools London website has a variety of resources to support your school’s healthy eating offer.

Physical Education and Activity 

Physical Education (PE) is part of the national curriculum and all schools must follow the statutory programmes of study and attainment targets for this subject. 

We encourage schools to go beyond this to further provide opportunities for sports and physical activity. 

Haringey Healthy Schools recommends that all schools:

  • have a named SLT Lead for PE, Physical Activity, and Sport in your school
  • have a Physical Activity policy (including PE, sport in and out of the curriculum and travel to and from school). This should be published on the school website and reviewed by consultation every 1-3 years
  • include a minimum of 2 hours PE per week in the school curriculum
  • provide dedicated curriculum time for physical activity outside of PE, such as via the Daily Mile or through regular movement breaks 
  • ensure playgrounds and outdoor areas are safe, supportive, and encourage physical activity, with energetic activities or sports that are available to pupils
  • provide regular extra-curricular physical activity e.g. after school sports clubs, dance or yoga classes, or school trips including physical activity
  • ensure there are systems in place to track pupil’s participation in physical activity and encourage less active pupils to participate
  • signpost students to local clubs and activities, such as youth hubs or local sports clubs
  • promote active travel to and from school, through e.g. walk to school initiatives, cycling training, and providing facilities for bike or scooter storage

For further resources and support on physical education, sport, and physical activity please consult the DfE’s non-statutory guidance for schools or the Healthy Schools London website.

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Further resources

Haringey-specific information:

External links:

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