What You Say About
RedBranch
“We were conscious of
the poor diet and lack of fitness in kids coming up from primary school. We
had tried resolving this issue ourselves through normal classroom channels.
At a stage we felt we weren’t getting anywhere RedBranch fell into our laps
and things really took off and accelerated…I know there has been attitude
change amongst students - we have measured it through questionnaires and
anecdotal observations…last year there was a brilliant series of posters on
the whole area of junk food and the effects of advertising…some of those
just hit kids between the two eyes…RedBranch facilitated the water machine
and the drinking of water has replaced a huge amount of the fizzy drinks…”
Enda Byrt, Ennistymon
Vocational School Principal
“We have 1st
yrs who are very very unfit, with sedentary lifestyles, watching TV,
playstations…we see diet and lack of exercise as a very big problem. We had
been talking about it for some time and wondered what could be done about
it. We found out about RedBranch, got in touch with them and a very good
relationship developed from there…I am very very impressed with what
RedBranch did, it was extraordinary. Everything RedBranch did for us was
extremely professional...A survey was done of the entire school and a
written report was back to us in a couple of weeks. We were able to see the
lifestyle habits from eating to exercise and that was very valuable to us...
At Christmas time RedBranch produced a flyer that we circulated to every
parent about the result of the survey and information about diet and
lifestyle…I cant speak highly enough of the people from RedBranch. You will
always get people over the years to come into the school and talk about the
usual aspects of health and so on and leave it at that…but this organisation
has a much more comprehensive global view of the whole thing…from talking to
parents, pupils, staff, to providing lunches and water and so on for the
school...One of the first things we did was introduce bottled water.
RedBranch were able to organise water at 50 cents per bottle for us. We will
be selling 1500 bottles per week (at the current rate of consumption)…this
is replacing fizzy drinks, which is marvellous”.
Con Woods, School
Counsellor St Flannan’s College Ennis
I have found having
access to the health information that RedBranch have provided extremely
educational in my own life. Discussion of health and lifestyle issues with
professionals in that area really makes it easy to understand how to apply
the information to what I do. Hearing reports on the TV or radio or reading
about health issues is impersonal and can be overpowering. (Today we were
told on TV3 news that we eat too much salt but not what we could do about
it). Since my dealings with RedBranch I have changed several small things
about the way we live. I have started making brown bread and stopped eating
processed white bread, I have cut out some processed foods and we eat a lot
more fruit and vegetables but I suppose the most important thing I have
learned from RedBranch is that my children's future health depends on what I
feed them now and how physically active they are. I think it would be very
important to make this sort of personalised and family based health and
lifestyle education available to everyone. I would like to think that my
efforts now will be paid back in years to come by my childrens long and
healthy lives.
Anne Germaine,
Parent, St Tola’s NS
“RedBranch gave us some
pointers in relation to running a school fruit fruit break and it proved to
be a huge success. We are now in our second year of operation and we have
230 children eating a piece of fruit every day. That has to be good for
their health and their education...I would be very fulsome in my praise for
RedBranch. I found it professionally and personally assuring to have a group
out there who have their knowledge and are willing to share it. If anyone
could help them to spread this expertise to other schools I think it would
be tremendous for the children, the parents and the wider community.”
Brian Torpey, St
Mochulla’s National School Principal.
