Moo Crew: Milk matters to growing kids

A schools initiative is promoting dairy, writes Helen O’Callaghan.

CARMEL Shaughnessy McKeon, third class teacher at Sacred Heart Primary School, Granard, makes sure she eats three portions of dairy every day — milk in her porridge, yogurt for lunch, and cheese in sandwiches.

So she was delighted to get her pupils engaged in a programme that teaches the importance of exercise and a balanced diet, as well as how vital dairy products are in our diet.

Developed by the National Dairy Council in consultation with primary teachers, the Moo Crew programme is in its fourth year. The initiative was sparked by research showing 37% of girls and 28% of boys aged from five to 12 years have inadequate calcium intake.

With the support of colleague Grace McGauran, Ms Shaughnessy McKeon got 36 pupils involved with Moo Crew in 2016.

Their efforts to teach their local community about the importance of dairy won the Co Longford school the overall Moo Crew prize.

Using an interactive food pyramid they’d made, the pupils taught children at the local creche (as well as in the school’s infants’ class) about the different food types and the recommended daily portions of each.

They created individual posters for display in local shop/business windows — of the food pyramid, of children taking exercise, of production of yogurt and cheese from farm to factory.

Leon Grogan (left) with Andrew McGreggor, Daniel Lynch, Luke Walsh and Stefan Mihai (right), 2nd class students from Christ the King Boys National School, Cabra, Dublin pictured at the launch of the National Dairy Council’s  Moo Crew educational programme for Primary Schools at the Agri Aware Family Farm in Dublin Zoo. Pic. Robbie Reynolds

“They set up a stall in the local SuperValu, displaying dairy products — portion sizes of cheese on cocktail sticks, little shot sizes of milk. It was to show the accessibility of dairy. They did a cookery workshop and made pizza,” says Shaughnessy McKeon.

While pupils eat cheese and yoghurt every day in lunches provided by the school, the teachers know of at least one little girl who has upped her dairy intake since Moo Crew began.

“She wouldn’t drink milk. She’s quite artistic and really got into the project. She started taking milk in cereal — before, she’d eat it dry.”

The school spent the €1,000 prize money on PE equipment — skipping ropes, hula hoops, footballs and parachutes.

They also won a trip to Airfield Farms, where they saw cows being milked, tasted milk from a Jersey cow, made pizza, and had a training session with NDC ambassador and Olympian Derval O’Rourke.

Moo Crew offers curriculum-linked supports for teachers, including moocrew.ie.

This year the lesson plans have been expanded with a module on the Cheeses of Europe, giving an insight on the varieties of cheese and the geography of each region.

Daily dairy

* Three servings of dairy are recommended daily for children aged 5-8 years; five daily servings recommended for nine to 18-year-olds.

* Examples of servings include 200ml of milk, 125ml of yogurt or 25g of hard cheese, such as cheddar.

* Sample ‘small break’: apple, carton of milk; yogurt, plum, water;

* Sample lunch: wholemeal bread with sliced cheddar, salad leaves and tomato relish, pear and water or pitta with chicken, tomato and grated cheddar cheese.