PCT celebrates Golden Grin success

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The Dental and Nutrition teams at Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale Primary Care Trust (PCT) are celebrating the success of their healthy snacking policy, ‘The Golden Grin’ that has been implemented in around 150 Early Years settings including local authority and private venues.

Nurseries, play groups and after school clubs across Rochdale borough have been rewarded with Golden Grin Awards for taking action to prevent tooth decay and improve nutrition in children.

The scheme also encourages the children settings to cut out sugary snacks and drinks and substitute sugary rewards with sugar free alternatives, such as crayons and stickers.

The PCT has invited children’s settings from across the borough to a celebration evening which will be an opportunity for some Early Years settings who have adopted the scheme already to showcase their hard work and commitment to promoting healthy eating messages. The PCT will be sharing examples of good practices and a puppet demonstration will offer settings a innovative method of delivering important oral health and healthy eating messages to children.

Wendie Williams, Oral Health Promotion Officer for Heywood, Middleton amp; Rochdale PCT Dental Service said: “I am thrilled that so many Early Years settings have strived and worked hard to achieve the Golden Grin Award. It marks their commitment to improving the health of our future generations. We wanted to celebrate our success and encourage even more settings to implement healthy eating and snacking policies. It is hoped that many settings that attend who have not considered the scheme before will see how it can be achieved and will take inspiration from the impressive work being showcased by our early adopters.”