This week it was all about Early LifeLab. As well as our usual work of secondary school students to our purpose-built labs, preparations were being made behind the scenes to welcome not one, but two visitors from government.
Following a visit by public health minister Steve Brine MP earlier this year, we were asked if we could show representatives from both the departments of health how our Early LifeLab scheme could be used to empower children to make healthy choices..
Currently we are seeking to secure funding to roll it out more widely, but Early LifeLab has already been received enthusiastically by the schools who have been involved in our pilot phase.
Early Lifelab gives pupils the opportunity to have a life-long understanding of health from an early age, tailoring the themes of the established secondary school programme to a younger audience.
Around a dozen schools from across Hampshire are taking part in the Early LifeLab pilot scheme which along with providing the resources to accompany the modules, also trains teachers to enable them to confidently deliver the syllabus.
Project lead for Early LifeLab Dr Hannah Davey said: “It was fantastic to have everyone on the same room who had the shared belief that it is about empowering children to make good decisions about their own health.”
The visit also including the leadership team from a school that has taken part in the pilot scheme. Cathy Moden, headteacher at Hiltingbury Infant school in Chandler’s Ford, explained that by using the sports premium money allocated to schools to fund the scheme, their curriculum had been enriched.
She said: “The children have been really keen to challenge themselves and Early LifeLab has really enhanced our provision for them with our Healthy Schools ethos.”
The school also allowed us to film some of their students taking part in the Early LifeLab syllabus.
You can watch the film here:
LifeLab is based at University Hospital Southampton sitting within Southampton Education School at the University of Southampton, and is part of the National Institute for Health Research Biomedical Research Centre.