This year a group of S5 and S6 students have formed a group called “Young Health Leaders”. As a group our aim is to try and improve health within our school, we do this by making the staff and pupils aware of the nutritional values of the food they are consuming and by offering them healthier alternatives for these foods.  This year we targeted oral health in particular.  We have accomplished several tasks throughout the year so far, including going to Inverurie Academy to meet the Young Health Leaders of other schools and getting the chance to brainstorm ideas about health issues in our schools and local communities.  This year the S5 leaders were put in charge of promoting healthier alternatives for food and making all members of Kemnay Academy aware of what was in the food they were consuming.  This task was completed through the use of posters in the canteens and around the school.

An S5 leader also created a healthy eating booklet which offered several healthy recipes that could be made at home and some interesting facts about which foods are good for you and which foods are better to avoid.  On each page it also informed the reader if the recipe was high in phosphorus, calcium, vitamin D, or low in sugar.  Some of the other S6 leaders created an oral health campaign which they presented to the S1 pupils.  This campaign gave the S1 pupils information on the best way to clean their teeth, on how to spot signs of any problems in the mouth which could lead to disease in the future and also told them the best foods to avoid with alternatives available.                                                                                             Joanne Findlay S6