Kids In Action   You are in · RoscreaOnline · Community · Features

Tipperary & Offaly Hurlers, Diarmuid Fitzgerald & Brendan Murphy were on hand recently to assist Bernie’s Super Valu Roscrea with the launch of the national kids in action project

SuperValu Aims to provide over €1,000,000 worth of sports equipment to primary schools

Tipperary & Offaly Hurlers, Diarmuid Fitzgerald & Brendan Murphy were on hand on Monday last to assist Bernie’s Super Valu Roscrea & the North Tipperary Sports Partnership with its announcement that it is launching an innovative multilayered programme designed to get primary school children involved in sports and active play.

The SuperValu Kids in Action programme has been developed to address a wish amongst the SuperValu retailers to do more to support their local primary schools in their communities.  The pprogramme is aimed at not only getting the primary schools kids of Roscrea & the surrounding areas more active via an in-store collector scheme for sports equipment, but is also set to encourage both children and their parents to look more closely at the food they are eating at both school and at home.

Front l. to R.

Pupils Jake Mc Mahon, Grace Kirwin Paul Franks, & Mellissa Cullen.     

Back l to r

Brian Colclough, Super – Valu Roscrea, Cllr. John Hogan, Jason Kennedy, Super-Valu, Brendan Murphy, Offaly Hurling Player, Diarmuid Fitzgerald, Tipperary Hurling Player, Elaine Cullinane, North Tipp Sports Partnership, & Brendan Hanamy principal, Dromakeenan National School

The programme combines three separate initiatives aimed at both increasing physical activity levels amongst this 5 - 12yrs age group and encouraging them and their parents to take a fresh look at nutrition and their daily diets. SuperValu has developed this programme in conjunction with a number of expert partners including the Irish Sports Council (ISC), the Irish Universities Nutrition Alliance (IUNA) and Sarah Keogh, B. Sc. (Nutrition) MINDI.

The first initiative, which has already begun, is the commissioning of research being undertaken by IUNA into the activity patterns of children in the 5 - 12 age group.  Said Dr. Sinead McCarthy, IUNA:  “For the first time in Ireland a database of physical activity in a nationally representative sample of Irish children has been developed”
 
The second strand of the programme is the launch of SuperValu Kids in Action, an in-store collector scheme for sports equipment for primary schools, which is being rolled-out alongside an extensive in-store nutrition education programme.  The education programme has been developed in conjunction with the well known consultant nutritionist Sarah Keogh, B. SC. (Nutrition) MINDI. 

The launch of the “Help Get Children Active” took place in Dromakeenan National School, Roscrea recently.  The campaign is sponsored by
Bernies Super Valu, Roscrea.

The SuperValu Kids in Action is being supported by Sonia O’Sullivan and Ray D’Arcy. “As an athlete and mother of two young children” said Sonia, “I am probably more aware than most of the need to form good active lifestyle habits amongst our younger children.  Unlike me, most Mums do not have the knowledge about how to do this, but this programme provides all of the activity and nutritional advice you could need in easy bite size pieces.”

The final strand of SuperValu’s programme is Buntús – the Irish Sports Council’s official Primary School’s Sports Programme which provides a quality introduction to sports and physical activity for all primary school children, which has been proudly supported by SuperValu since May 2004.

The North Tipperary Sports Partnership has been working with Primary Schools in North Tipperary since 2002, in the delivery of the Buntús programme (the Irish Sports Council official Primary School’s Sports Programme).
Co-ordinator of the Sports Partnership Elaine Cullinane is delighted with the response and enthusiasm that local schools have for the programme - ‘We have now delivered the programme to 78 primary schools in North Tipperary, over 300 teachers have been trained, and over 8,000 schoolchildren are using the equipment on a daily basis’

The Sports Partnership warmly welcomes the fact that SuperValu have come on board as national sponsors of the Buntus programme,  and have just launched an innovative multilayered programme also designed to get Primary School children involved in sports and active play. SuperValu Kids in Action, an instore collector scheme for sports equipment for primary schools is being rolled out alongside an extensive in-store nutrition education programme. This equipment will complement the Buntús equipment that schools have received from the Sports Partnership.

Chairman of the North Tipperary Sports Partnership, Councillor John Hogan commented ‘With obesity levels rising among Irish school children, programmes like ‘Kids In Action’ are vital for the future health and well being of our children’.

Supervalu Kids in Action runs in-store from Monday 16th January until Sunday 26th March in SuperValu Roscrea. The  store will be handing out one voucher for every €10 spent.

For further information teachers can look at the SuperValu Kids in Action website at www.supervalukidsinaction.ie or call freephone 1800 242648.