Tooty Fruity Vegie in Primary Schools

Click on the relevant reports, resources and publications for more information.

Program/Project	Tooty Fruity Vegie in Primary Schools
Period/Length	Two year program
Aim	Increase vegetable and fruit consumption
Year	10 Northern NSW primary schools during 1999 and 2000 and in 13 more schools during 2002 and 2003.
Target Group	Primary school children and their families, primary school staff
Reach	Approximately 2300 children and their families
Locations	Northern Rivers NSW
Partners	Southern Cross University, Department of Education and Training, Fruit and Vegetable Industry
Funding	Commonwealth Department of Health & Aging, Health and Active Grants, National Child Nutrition Project International Year of the Volunteers, NSW Cancer Council – Process Evaluation, Resource Development, Dietetics Association Australia & Coles 7-a-day, NSW Ministry of Health
Contact	jillian.adams@health.nsw.gov.au
Full Report	Tooty Fruity Vegi Project: Final Report (2004)
Resources
More Information	See below
Publications	Healthy Eating Habits at School-Assist and promote healthy eating habits-Manual (2001) Process and Impact Evaluation Report (2001) Tooty Fruity Vegie Teachers Manual-Stage 1,2 and 3 (2002) Collaboration between education, health food and horticultural industries (2003) Adams J, Huddy A, Holden L, Newell S, Miller M, Dietrich U. Tooty Fruity Vegie project: A recipe for successful volunteer participation in primary schools. Health Promotion Journal of Australia 2003:14; 187-191 Huddy A, Adams J, Holden L, Newell S, van Beurden E, Dietrich U. Fruits and vegies in lunchboxes-accuracy of a prospective 24 hour food record for primary school children. Health Promotion Journal of Australia 2003, 14: 141-143 Newell, S Huddy, A, Adams, J Miller, M Holden, L & Dietrich, U. 2004, The Tooty Fruity Vegie project: Changing knowledge and attitudes about fruits and vegetables. Australian & NZ Journal of Public Health, Vol 28, pp. 288-295.

What strategies were used?

The program used a whole-of-school approach to implement a range of evidence-based vegetable and fruit promoting strategies. Each school was offered a portfolio of strategies from which they could choose, including:

Classroom activities, children’s cooking and gardening programs.
Outcomes oriented classroom resources and teacher training.
Training and resources for parents and teachers aides to run the kids in the kitchen cooking program.
Gardening kits including information on what to grow at school and seed packs, fruit trees.
Advice on starting a 10am fruit and vegie break.
Use of carrot and apple costumes for promotions at school and sporting events.

Promotions and resources aimed at parents and carers

Fruit and vegetable promoting articles for school newsletters
Regular parent events such as tastings and demonstrations
Advice on healthy fundraisers and using sponsors for the cooking program

School canteens

Support to undertake menu review, and advice on vegetable and fruit promotions

What were the program outcomes?

A comprehensive evaluation, partly funded by Cancer Council (New South Wales) showed that the TFV project was well implemented, reached the vast majority of all target groups, was overwhelmingly positively received and compared to a group of control schools, produced improvements in a wide range of fruit and vegetable related indicators (including consumption) for the children involved and for their parents, teachers and school communities.

The outcome evaluation has shown that children’s fruit and vegetables intakes increased in the intervention schools while control children’s dropped. The program won both the “Working Partnerships” category and the Minister’s Overall Statewide Award at the 2001 Baxter Better Health Good Health Care Awards.

Tooty Fruity Vegie in Primary Schools

What strategies were used?

What were the program outcomes?

Program Reports