Thanks to funding from the Premier League, Professional Footballers Association and City of Wolverhampton Council the new ‘Healthy Goals’ project will work with pre-school children and their families, promoting healthy growth through education and activity sessions. The project aims to gain insight from both professionals and parents about barriers to healthy growth to enable the project to help meet these needs.
The scheme further extends the range of initiatives for all ages run by Wolves Foundation, offering activities from cradle to grave as part of their programme to support the people of Wolverhampton.
“Healthy Goals is a really exciting project, and one which will help parents and their young children pursue a healthy and active lifestyle,” says Rachel Smith, health & wellbeing manager with Wolves Foundation.
“We are delighted to be linking up with the City of Wolverhampton Council, and the initiative fits perfectly into their strategy to encourage everyone from the city to live as healthy a lifestyle as they can.
“Unfortunately, the full programme of activities will not be able to come into force until more of the lockdown restrictions are lifted, but so far we have launched the project online with a Facebook group and had a really good response from parents.
“We will be continuing to provide a series of resources online and engaging with parents to offer activities they can take part in with their children, before expanding the programme with more face-to-face contact when it is safe and appropriate to do so.”
Under the guidance of health officer Jade Sutton, the programme will eventually include initiatives such as parent education workshops on tackling fussy eating, reducing screen time, healthy eating cooking classes, family education and physical activity sessions and interactive stay and play sessions at Molineux and local community centres and nurseries.
Councillor Jasbir Jaspal, cabinet member for public health and wellbeing at City of Wolverhampton Council, said: "Ensuring children grow healthily is a priority for this City. As chair of the Wolverhampton Healthy Growth Partnership I am delighted to have the Wolves Foundation as a vital partner organisation, along with many others.
“By working together across all sectors, we are taking a stand to say that growing healthily is what we want for all our children, and that all of us have a part to play.
“Moving towards healthy growth for all means so much more than just looking at weight, but rather needs us to address underlying factors that make being healthy difficult for so many.
“Healthy Goals is a fantastic project that weaves into our wider work across the city, engaging and connecting families in their own neighbourhoods, giving them tools to live healthier lives in a fun, sustainable way."
John Hudson, director of corporate social responsibility for PFA added: “The launch of the ‘Healthy Goals’ initiative by the Wolves Foundation is the perfect way to address barriers to healthy growth for pre-school children and their families.
“Education, activity sessions, online resources and lots of fun are key to its success and the PFA are proud to support such a worthy programme for positive change.”
Anna, a parent who is part of the Healthy Goals Facebook group, said: “We have been loving all of the resources on the website. My older girls have done maths, wordsearches, and really enjoyed researching the different nationalities of the players.
“My youngest has loved the letter formation and done experiments with Wolfie!
“All of this is really good fun and a lovely way to still stay connected to the club.”
Jessica is another parent who became involved with the Healthy Goals project, including winning a competition for a Wolves kit for son, Evan, who has just turned four.
If you have a child aged 0-4 years old and want to be in with a chance of winning a £100 Amazon voucher, join the Healthy Goals Facebook group and complete the survey before the closing date of 1st August by clicking here. Alternatively, the survey can be completed here.
*For more information please contact JadeSutton@wolves.co.uk or call (01902) 828366.
