Nursery World - New PANCo role is designed to make health and well-being a priority

A group of early years practitioners and health experts working together in Cambridgeshire has developed a new staff role to lead on physical activity and nutrition and is piloting a qualification to support it.

The role of the Physical Activity and Nutrition Co-ordinator (PANCo) works in much the same way as a SENCO and is intended as a key strategy to address overweight and obesity in young children.

A new Certificate in Early Years Physical Activity and Nutrition (EYPAN), endorsed by CACHE, was offered to a pilot group at the beginning of the year and is taking six months of part-time study to complete. There are currently 20 students on the course and they will help to shape the final qualification when it is officially launched in July.

Linda Baston-Pitt, director of the Old School House Nursery in Cambridgeshire, and a main mover in the project, reports that it has taken a while to come to fruition.

She says, 'Faye Bentley, childhood obesity co-ordinator for NHS Cambridgeshire, and I had been talking for a long while about the need for training and qualifications in early years nutrition, to ensure children develop life-long healthy eating habits.

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