THE St Helens Star is backing a campaign to encourage children to 'Swap the Pop' after one school noticed a huge improvement in their behaviour when they ditched sugary drinks.

The scheme was such a success at Haydock High that St Helens Council have launched a campaign in a bid to boost healthier alternatives.

Children at the school were shocked to discover that some drinks had as much as 15 teaspoons of sugar and high levels of caffeine. Since they made the change last year teachers noticed students were focused during lessons and detentions were cut by a third.

Some nurseries also reported similar results after realising how much sugar was in so called fruit drinks. They swapped their pop for water, milk and sugar free drinks.

Public health leaders say the result is fewer hyperactive children – who aren’t suffering from a sugar rush and are eating well at mealtimes.

It is also good news for children’s teeth.

The team at St Helens' public health department believe consumers often get sweet talked by drinks manufacturers' myths that youngsters can benefit from high energy drinks for sport or that fruit drinks deliver what is needed for 5-a-day fruit and vegetables.

Councillor Andy Bowden, the council's cabinet member for public health and wellbeing, said: "It's great to see that young people themselves are now increasingly aware of the negative effects of some of these high energy or fruit drinks.

"Just as important is the way they've taken to replacing those drinks with water and their understanding of how 'hydrated learning' can improve academic achievement."

The campaign runs from now until the end of July, with people wishing to take part will be able to pledge their support for the challenge.

Families, sports clubs and schools are all encouraged to sign up and a selection will be profiled by the Star for the campaign during July.

Star editor Andrew Kilmurray said: "The Star's feature on Haydock High last December really struck a chord with readers and was picked up by national media. We've heard a lot anecdotally about how some children skip breakfast and head to school downing these drinks, which then affects their behaviour.

"So we are keen to help promote the Swap the Pop message and look forward to getting across by delivering a strong campaign in the coming weeks."

Look out for more information coming soon, but you can take action today by joining the ‘swap the pop’ pledge. The campaign will be running from June 25 to July 31 and you can log on to sthelens.gov.uk/SwapThePop and pledge your support for the challenge.

Cheers! Saints stars (left to right) Atelea Vea, Shannon McDonnell and Kyle Amor use bottled water to toast the ‘Swap the Pop’ campaign from St Helens Council’s Public Health team