CHILDREN at Portesham Primary School have been trying out their favourite fruit and vegetables in Healthy Snack Week.

The school introduced the week to encourage children to choose healthy things to have in their lunch-boxes rather than crisps and sweets.

Margi White, health works co-ordinator at the school, said: "We've been bringing in different snacks each day for the children to try, including tropical fruit, dried fruit, vegetables, local fruit and then their favourites from the week on Friday. "It's great, because it's starting to work already - children have started coming to school with fruit and veg in their lunch-boxes."

Five-year-old Josie Arnold said: "My favourite fruit is strawberries and I liked the cauliflower and peas. We've been writing about fruit and drawing pictures of it."

Six-year-old Maisie Dean added: "We've been learning about fruit all week and why we should eat it, I like strawberries and cauliflower cheese and my best bit of the week has been eating all the different things."

The healthy eating theme ran through all lessons in the school, including science and art, so the children could see the importance of a healthy diet.

One of the projects was digital art, where local artists Catherine Batten and Jonty Spiller worked with the children to create digital artwork.

Jonty said: "What we've been doing with the children is photographing different vegetables with the digital camera then playing around with them on the computer, making them different sizes and turning them into people and animals.

"The kids have really taken to it and come up with some amazingly creative things."

Headteacher Phil Minns said: "It's been going great this week; we've now got a very healthy school.

"We've had donations of fruit from Waitrose, which we're very grateful for, and Tesco have donated some vouchers, which has all helped."