Change4Life
Change4Life Campaign Update - Dec 09
Change4Life Active
As part of the online winter programme, we have developed a new Change4Life Active Holiday Planner that allows families to plan enjoyable and active holidays together. The online tool is easy to use - families simply type in their holiday dates and then using the simple drag and drop icons families select the activities they'd like to do and drop them into their calendar. And, if families are stuck for ideas, there’s a fantastic 'lucky dip' option that automatically fills the calendar with exciting events. Families can save their finished planner as a PDF to view on their computer or it can be printed off and stuck up on a wall to view. There is also the option to share your Change4Life holiday planner with your chums on Facebook. The planner will be live on the website on 18th December and emails promoting the new planner tool will be sent out to families then too. Visual attached. www.nhs.uk/change4life
Following on from our summer and autumn packs, this week our ‘Whizz Through Winter’ activity packs will be sent out to Change4Life registered families. This pack is focusing on ‘up and about’ and ’60 active minutes’. It includes a kids pull out section with a selection of games; six new recipe cards; a booklet for all the family (with both indoor and outdoor fun), and a problem page section. All this information and content is also included in Change4Life emails sent to families who prefer to receive information by email rather than by post, and links to new and exciting content on the Change4Life website.
Dance Toolkit and Dance Weekend
Dance is a spontaneous and highly enjoyable way for children to be healthy – they burn energy, strengthen their bones and reduce the risk of developing obesity. To support the activity to come, a Dance Toolkit will be available to download from the Partners and Supporters area of the Change4Life website later this month. The toolkit has been prepared to help everyone who works with families with children aged 5-11 to encourage them to dance. It consists of a Local Supporters Guide, a poster and activity sheets with instructions on how to do eight types of dance.
Working with our partners at the Fitness Industry Association (
The Change4Life team are developing a dance website that will contain dance instructions and tips for all abilities and ages and this will host details of a major dance competition. The competition will be judged by a famous dance group and involve exciting prizes. We’ll be working closely with YouTube and popular women’s magazines to promote this activity. We hope to share more details in January.
One Year On – celebrating success
The Change4Life campaign was launched in January this year and so now, nearly twelve months on, is a good time to reflect on some of the campaign’s successes. What follows is a statistical snapshot of some of that success:
· 91% of mothers recognise the Change4Life logo (as at November 2009)
· 79% of mothers are aware of Change4Life (as at November 2009)
· Over 400,000 families have signed up to Change4Life (which equates to over 500,000 kids)
· Over 340,000 families responded to the How Are The Kids questionnaire
· The Change4Life website has received 1,237,758 unique visits (end of November)
· Over 24,000 Local Supporters have registered with Change4Life.
· 6 million support materials have been ordered and distributed by Local Supporters (NHS workforce, Local Authorities, schools etc)
· 2.5 million snack swapper wheels have been distributed
To help us get a sense of the support the campaign has received at a local level we commissioned BMRB to independently investigate just how much Change4Life material is out there and the impact this has on awareness and attitudes of our target audience. The findings are based on a small sample and so they are indicative only but the results were very encouraging. In total BMRB visited 400 venues in 50 areas and found 298 pieces of Change4Life material in total. Over a quarter of venues visited (27%) currently had material displayed, with a staggering 44% having displayed or given out Change4Life materials since our launch. GP surgeries, leisure centres, primary schools, children’s centres and play centres were most likely to carry visible material.
So thank you for your continued support.
We are producing a Change4Life One Year On report that will capture and celebrate successes in all areas – the marketing campaign, national partnerships, cross-Government links, NHS workforce, Local Authority and schools support and all the fantastic local activity going on. This is due for release in early February.
Any national commercial business, government department, NGO or social enterprise that wants to work with Change4Life has to sign our Terms of Engagement and commit to incremental activity to support our aims. We now have over 180 national partners signed up to Change4Life and 70 of these are currently active. We have been working to publish their commitments or ‘pledges’ and this information is now live on the Change4Life website. We have posted details of 46 of our partners, ranging from ASDA to Defra to
National Child Measurement Programme – 2008/09 results
The results of the 2008/09 National Child Measurement Programme were published on 10 December. The results are encouraging, and provide further evidence that the rise in child obesity is levelling off, as there has been little or no change in the prevalence of overweight and obese children in either age group, compared with the NCMP results from the previous two years (2006/07 and 2007/08). Link to results: http://www.ic.nhs.uk/statistics-and-data-collections/health-and-lifestyles/obesity/national-child-measurement-programme-england-2008-09-school-year
Start4Life consumer campaign
The Start4Life consumer campaign, launching in early January, will involve a range of activities to help raise awareness of the importance of starting out on a healthy path in life. These will include:
· Start4Life website content aimed at families and influencers ( www.nhs.uk/start4life).
· Promotion of the website through online advertising on parenting websites.
· PR activity to ensure editorial in parenting magazines.
· Advertisements in women’s weekly magazines.
· Working with media partners to ensure in-depth messages and features on the Start4Life behaviours appear in targeted publications.
· Broadcasting the new Start4Life film clip on Baby TV (shown in antenatal clinics).
· Interactive roadshows promoting the Start4Life behaviours in areas where breastfeeding initiation rates are below average.
· A pilot of the Cook4life ‘Cooking with Families’ programme – this will be a train the trainer project in the northwest and southwest regions.
· Re-branding and updating the existing DH breastfeeding and weaning leaflets in the Start4Life style to ensure they have the latest guidance and are engaging to families. These leaflets will be available from February 2010.
Each month we want to share some of the great work happening in the Healthy Towns Programme in
Joy of Food – cooking classes for all 14-30 year olds to taste new foods and learn how to cook them. The team have produced an excellent recipe, tips and hints book to support this work.
Green Gyms - run by BTCV, these provide outdoor workouts with a difference, where participants can tackle important conservation projects on local green areas.
Get Thetford Dancing - Salsa, Street, Latin, Ballroom and Swing classes for adults.
Find out more at: http://www.thetfordhealthytown.co.uk
Food Face Competition winners
In the Change4Life autumn activity pack, we ran a ‘Make a face’ competition for kids. We asked kids to arrange some healthy food into a funny face on a plate and send us a photo for a chance to win a prize. We had a great response and some fantastic competition entries and the five winning family photos are below. Well done to the