MP CELEBRATES FREE MILK IN SCHOOLS

MEDIA RELEASE

20th September 2013

Julian Sturdy, MP for York (Outer), acted as milk monitor for the day in Stockton on the Forest Primary School in celebration of World School Milk Day.

To mark the event Stockton on the Forest Primary School encouraged children to drink milk and understand the nutritional benefits milk provides, alongside hundreds of schools and nurseries across the UK throughout September and October 2013.

Mr Sturdy said ‘I’m delighted to be visiting Stockton-on-the-Forest Primary School to be celebrating World School Milk Day 2013 and I am looking forward to meeting with the pupils there. As a father of two young children, I am only too aware of the benefits of milk for growing bodies and minds. In addition to the numerous health benefits, the social process of sitting down together and sharing milk is important for developing socially.’

World School Milk Day is on Wednesday 25th September. An initiative driven globally by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, World School Milk Day is funded in the UK by Cool Milk, the country’s leading school milk supplier.

The annual event, held on the last Wednesday in September, has been celebrated by children drinking milk in schools and early years settings in over 30 countries around the world since 2000.

In the UK, an estimated 1.5 million children under the age of five receive free milk every day, while pupils aged five to eleven receive subsidised milk.

Delivered fresh to the classroom, the milk is enjoyed as a group, promoting social development and independence. Milk is vital for building healthy bones and teeth and improves a child’s concentration, memory and creativity.

Sarah Mills (Head teacher) commented "At Stockton-on-the-Forest Primary School, children’s happiness, health and well-being are our priority. Milk time is a key part of our day where children can enjoy a nutritional drink whilst chatting to friends or enjoying a story. Milk helps our children to build strong bodies and healthy brains and contributes to them building a strong immune system, ensuring that they are fighting fit, ready to concentrate and work hard at being the best that they can be."

For more information about World School Milk Day, please visit www.worldschoolmilkday.com

Images of the visit are available at:

http://flickr.com/gp/100675627@N07/Qh20H4/

PLEASE CLICK ‘SETS’. Relevant images and information regarding them will be stored in the folder named in accordance with the school or nursery. Names of those within the image are detailed in each images’ ‘tags’ (left to right).

For more information please call Charley Sowden from Shooting Star PR on M: 07971 200 510 T: 01522 528540 or E: charley@thisisblyth.com

Notes to Editor:

• Cool Milk is the UK’s leading school milk supplier, working in partnership with local authorities and early years groups to supply free and subsidised school milk to children in pre-schools, nurseries, and primary schools across the UK.

• The 1944 Education Act introduced a free milk clause which gave a free glass (1/3 pint) of milk to all school children in the United Kingdom under the age of 18. Today, under the Welfare Food Scheme run by the Department of Health, under-fives are still eligible for free school milk. Milk is also subsidised for school children aged five to 11 by the European Union under the European school milk scheme.

• It is recognised that there are a wide range of health benefits from drinking milk.
  
  

For more information call Charley Sowden from Shooting Star PR on M: 07971 200 510 T: 01522 528540 or E: charley@thisisblyth.com

Charley Sowden
Shooting Star PR
01522 528 540
charley@thisisblyth.com

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