Tameside Public Health with partners are in the final stage of preparing for a four week GULP challenge across their 15 secondary schools. Following February half term, the Schools For Health team will visit each of the secondary schools and deliver an assembly for all year 9 students on the harms related to sugary drinks. The students will then be challenged to Give Up Loving Pop for four weeks!
Once they have signed up via the GULP website, students will each be given a water bottle and information leaflet to encourage them to complete the challenge. Weekly, encouraging emails will let students know how far they have come, detailing the calories, sugar and money they may have saved through switching to water. Each school will also be provided with the GULP PSHE lesson plans for delivery through their teaching staff and other visual material including banners and posters.
Tameside are excited to see the results of the challenge and behaviour change will be monitored through pre and post-challenge questionnaires. We hope that the messages will be cascaded through the school and even make it home to influence families and friends.
Charlotte, Public Health Programme Officer at Tameside and lead for the campaign said: “We are delighted to see that our Tameside secondary schools are engaging in this all important campaign. We know teenagers in England are the biggest consumers of sugar-sweetened drinks in Europe and that sugar consumption increases the risk of consuming too many calories, the risk of tooth decay, increased risk of type 2 diabetes and linked to higher weight in children. Further to the work with Food Active and the GULP Challenge we hope to see a change in attitudes and behaviour. We are very excited to see the results and importantly sustaining the energy of our schools”.