Shinrone National School

Click on the picture to go straight to the Food Dude website

What's it all about?

Food Dudes is a programme developed by the Food & Activity Research Unit at Bangor University, Wales, to encourage children to eat more fruit and vegetables both in school abd at home. It is based on positive role models (the Food Dudes characters), repeated tasting and rewards. In large scale studies in schools in England, Wales and Ireland, the programme has been shown to be effective and results lon-lasting across the primary age range, regardless of gender, school size, geographic and socio-economic factors. It is ultimately designed to enable children to enjoy eating healthy diets and to create a healthy eating culture within schools. the programme in Ireland recieved a 'counteracting obesity' award from the World Health organisation in 2006. Food Dudes is now being offered to all primary schools in Ireland and has reached over 1,000 schools to date.

Phase 1

is an intensive intervention which lasts 16 days. During this time, children are given frit and veg while they read a letter and/or watch a specially designed video of the Food Dudes. Each day children are rewarded with small prizes for successfully eating the fruit and veg. the children also keep a diary of fruit and veg they have eaten at home.

Phase 2

extends the home element of the F.D. programme by encouraging the children to bring their own fruit and veg to school every day in special F.D. containers. Classroom wall charts are used to record progress, the children recieve F.D. certificates and further rewards upon reaching goals. This phase maintains fruit and veg consumption in the longer term.