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As the autumn half term holiday approached, we were delighted to discover that our drive towards raising the profile of growing, cooking and eating healthily had been rewarded. We had been successful in our application for our Silver Food for Life Award!
The school has been working on the 17 elements of the award which included making improvements to managing the Dining Hall, working more closely with Chartwells who provide our school dinner menu, increasing the amount of cooking undertaken in class and working more closely with the community on healthy food options for our children.
Now work starts on the prestigious Gold award – to date there are only 21 schools in the UK who have achieved Gold Food for Life! Our main focus over the next few months will be increasing the opportunities for families and the wider community to learn about healthy eating, cooking and growing organic produce through workshops and events at school. We will be inviting older members of the community to sit down in the Dining Hall and enjoy a roast dinner at Christmas, pupils will learn how to prepare, cook and serve a family meal with paying guests enjoying being waited on by the children, and parents will be invited to join their younger KS1 children and enjoy a school dinner.
The Food for Life work will dovetail neatly with our application for this academic year’s Total Green School Award project entitled ‘There’s an orangutan in my lunchbox!’ Following the success of 2015 when we were awarded the National Total Green School Award, we are putting together an equally extensive and multi-faceted project looking at the dangers of excessive sugar consumption, educating pupils and families on healthy packed lunch options, raising the awareness of palm oil in products and, of course, learning about the impact of palm oil plantations on orangutans and rainforests.
Work will shortly start work on producing our own orangutan information book accompanied by palm oil free recipes for families to enjoy at home. Proceeds from the sale of the book will go to the Sumatran Orangutan Society with whom we are planning a joint conservation project with a school in Sumatra.
All in all, it looks like it will continue to be a challenging and exciting few months ahead of us with opportunities to support curriculum work with theme-based lunches. Additionally there will be more extensive opportunities for cooking in class and the chance to eat lots of healthy, organic, locally sourced produce which is always a good outcome!