Healthy Drinks Policy

Manor House School has healthy drinks policy.  We are promoting milk and water as the only healthy drinks to be consumed by students in school. This decision is based on recommendations from the HSE and feedback from parents in the Health Promoting School Questionnaire.

What’s wrong with other drinks?  

Excess sugar causes tooth decay and can lead to obesity.  Drinking sugary drinks in school can cause a massive spike in blood sugars and then a sudden drop in blood sugars, making it difficult to concentrate and learn.  Diet or low calorie drinks often have sweetener added to replace sugar, however this is not  a healthy option either as carbonated drinks and sweetener also damage the teeth.

How much sugar should we have?

Many drinks have more than the total Recommended Daily Amount (RDA)  of sugar in one bottle. For teenagers the RDA is no more than 20 mg of sugar or 4 teaspoons.  Look at the following examples:

Drink	Amount of Sugar
200ml carton of Capri Sun	4 teaspoons
500 ml bottle  Lucozade Original	4 ½  teaspoons
500 ml bottle Coca Cola	13 teaspoons
500ml bottle Club Orange	16 teaspoons
500ml 7Up	13 teaspoons
250 ml bottle pure orange juice	4 ½ teaspoons
250 ml bottle Innocent Strawberry & Banana Smoothie	7 teaspoons
500ml Ribena Blackcurrant	6 teaspoons
400ml Yazoo Chocolate Milk	9 teaspoons

This article on sugary drinks is also quite informative.

3rd Year Breakfast

Thirs years enjoyed cooking and eating French Toast with berries fror breakfast this morning.

Wholesome Apple Crumble

First years did an amazing job in their first practical cookery class today, making these delicious apple crumbles using seasonal cooking apples. The cumble contains wholegrain flour , oats and walnuts to add fibre and texture to this dessert.

Tomato and Basil Bruschetta

Second years were busy developing their ciulinary skills this morning. Using the grill and practcing chopping skills were the main focus of today’s lesson. We concentrated on choosing the correct chopping knife for each task- bread knife for the ciabatta, large chopping knife for the garlic and basil and small paring knife for the tomato.

An hour for coooking and cleaning is challenging, but they did very well.

Apple and Blackberry Buns

125g Self Raising Flour

125g Butter (room temperature)

125g Golden Caster Sugar

2 Eggs

1 tbsp milk

10-12 blakberries

1 large cooking apple   

1. Preheat oven to 180°C/Gas 4.    2.Line cupcake tin with baking cases.    3.Wash the fruit, peel the apples and cut into small pieces, leave in a bowl of water until you are ready to use them.    4.4. Break the eggs into a small bowl and mix with a fork.    5.Mix the flour, sugar, eggs, milk and butter together with the electric mixer for a few minutes until we’ll combined.    6.Stir in the fruit with a wooden spoon.    7.Place spoonfuls of the mixture into the baking cases and bake for 15-20 minutes until firm to the touch.Remove from the oven and leave to cool on a wire tray.

Blackberry Picking

1st years enjoyed some blackberry picking last week during our Wellbeing walk. We are lucky to have a fantastic supply of blacberries on our school grounds.

2nd Year Upcycling

2nd years who completed their CBA 1 at home during schooling from home demonstrated amazing creativity, initiative and talent. These projects show how upcycling a textile item allows one to express their creativity and is an excellent example of sustainable fashion.

Balanced Eating-Burger and Chips

Burger and Chips – this doesn’t have to be a ‘bad’ meal, it’s all about balance.
Here are some tips to make this very tasty meal more balanced.
1. Use good quality lean meat. It’s more expensive but the lower fat content means that the whole burger doesn’t shrink away. One of these burgers from my local butcher in Centra, Rosemount does two kids in my house. They taste amazing.cheaper burgers tend to be higher in fat and contain more additives.
2.Choose a good bun- try to get a wholemeal/ multi grain or seeded bun to add more nutrients to the meal. Small buns are better, especially if you are having chips too.
3.Serve with homemade baked potato wedges with the skins on for added fibre.
4.Choose your toppings wisely- avocado can replace lots of sauce. Squeeze in as much salad veg as you can. Low fat cheese is a better choice than full fat ( I personally don’t like low fat milk or yoghurt but low fat cheese is fine).
5.Grill or bake your burger instead of adding extra fat by frying.
Enjoy. Eating is all about balance. Don’t eliminate foods just because they are perceived as unhealthy. Just choose wisely and make small changes to make your meal more balanced.

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A Focus on Spinach

Spinach is very nutritious food and particularly useful in women’s diets and vegetarian or vegan diets.
Spinach is rich in iron. Iron plays a central role in the functioning of red blood cells which help to transport oxygen around the body, it’s also important for energy production and DNA synthesis. Women are more likely to suffer from iron deficiency, due to menstruation.
Spinach is also an excellent source of vitamin K, vitamin A, vitamin C and folate as well as being a good source of manganese, magnesium and vitamin B2. Women of child bearing age in particular, need to pay attention to their foliate consumption ( the synthetic form is folic acid).
Vitamin K is important for bone health and it is difficult to find vegetables richer in vitamin K than spinach.
So eating spinach will not turn you into popeye but can help with energy levels and overall health.

6th year microbiology and yeast Cookery

What better way to study microbiology and the conditions required for growth of yeast, than by making pizza! I, and 6th years really enjoyed this online practical class.

Beef Teriyaki Recipe

400g sirloin steak – serves 2
5 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
2 cloves garlic, grated
1 thumb sized piece ginger, grated
1 tbsp oil
1 large carrot
2 spring onions
To serve- rice or noodles
A handful of green beans or mange tout
1. Thinly slice the steak. Put it in a lunch box to marinade in the soy sauce, white wine vinegar, garlic and ginger. Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour, or overnight.
2.Peel and thinly slice the carrots into batons, slice the spring onions lengthways, to similar size as the carrots.
3. Cook the rice, or noodles.
4.Heat a pan or wok, add the oil. Stir fry the veg for about two minutes, remove and set aside.
5.Add the meat to the pan. Use a slotted spoon to do so, so that the marinade stays in the lunch box for now. Stir fry the meat on high for about two minutes.
6.Then add the marinade from the lunch box and cook for another two minutes. Add the stir fried veg. Add a little more soy sauce or a spoon of water if it becomes dry.
7.Serve