A class act for healthy children from Frome hospital friends

Story posted on July 8, 2013

PUPILS of St John’s Junior School in Frome are the first to benefit from an important new cross-community initiative to make schoolchildren, between the ages of 3 and 13 years of age, aware of possible health issues such as obesity, alcohol, smoking, and drug abuse. 

With the Friends of the Hospital (FoFH) underwriting the cost of the mobile ‘Life Education Wessex’ classroom to visit all the First and Middle Schools in the town and local villages, the initiative is being fully supported by the Frome Town Council, Frome Medical Practice, Frome Rotary Club and each of the schools educational and management teams.

Parents have been asked to become involved with the radical initiative to teach children at an early age on how to look after their health, and to resist peer pressure which can lead to social problems later in life. A fun ‘Stop Watch’ promotion has been devised by the Frome Rotary Club to help with fund-raising for the scheme’s education within their children’s school.

Peter Smith, chairman of the Friends of Frome Hospital, welcoming the first visit of the Life education Wessex mobile classroom to St. John’s School said, “This is an excellent way the whole community, related to health and education of our young people, has come together to address these serious social issues. There is no better way than to head-off problems before they start by educating children at an early age. Again, this is another pioneering project championed by and across the Frome community.”

Above: l-r, Humphrey Barnes, president Frome Rotary Club; Mike Cole, Frome Rotary Club; Pippa Goldfinger, Frome Town Council; Alan Burgess, principal St. John’s School with children, Spencer, Effie, Frannie and Logan, Harold and Karen Perryman, Life Education Wessex; Polly McRea, Frome Medical Practice and Peter Smith, chairman FoFH – inspecting the Life Education Wessex mobile classroom