Getting children growing

St Peter’s Primary School in Wem, North Shropshire is working with Garden Organic an the Schools Food Partnership to develop a whole new ethos to food in school.  The project which has attracted National Lottery funding involves a number of different aspects including; growing your own, composting food waste, keeping chicken, undertaking farm visits, general environmental education, healthy eating, training for catering staff and involving the children and their parents in food preparation and cooking.

Teachers have been involved to make sure the work is carefully crafted so its built into the curriculum.  Its meant the entire school timetable being redrawn to work around the seasons and allow them to plant and harvest the crops, the amount and type of cooking to be completed and links to ethical issues such as, for example, fair trade or food miles.

The children have helped design and installed a fabulous new garden which has raised beds for food production.  They have a rota which requires the children allocate horticultural tasks between them.  The food produced is used in home economics lessons and for the school canteen staff to create healthy school dinners.  The school cook has been instrumental in developing the project, supported by Shire Services catering.