Developing a whole education approach to food – Includes Y4 work plan

What they've achieved

Food education clearly includes a number of different aspects – for example; growing, farming, ethical issues and cooking.

To develop a ‘whole food education’ approach to the Food for Life Partnership all these aspects need to be covered regularly over the course of a year, but equally importantly they must be linked to other areas of learning to ensure children approach them as a normal part of their learning activities. If the different aspects simply stand alone there is a danger that children (and staff!) will see them as disconnected and this will make the development of a positive food culture difficult to achieve.

Teachers need to build the Food for Life Parternship project into their curriculum planning otherwise it will appear disjointed. We started with the timetable required 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. This is then linked to specific areas of the curriculum, including PSHE and planned into the work.

Here is an example of how the various aspects of the Food for Life Partnership can be joined together based on some work carried out by Y4 children (8/9 years old):

• The children plan to grow some wheat in their raised bed, linked to science work on growth. The motivation for children to learn about the optimum conditions required for plants to grow is so much greater when they are actually growing their own.
• Team work development will be evident as the children work together to research the crop, prepare the bed, plant the seeds and work out a rota to tend the crop as it grew, sharing tasks between them. Many opportunities here to discuss the importance of caring for the environment and for each other!
• Later, the class can visit a local farm and went to see wheat growing in a field – watch out for the collective gasp when they see the sheer scale of the wheat field! This expression of ‘awe and wonder’ can be followed up in class during RE lessons where children can use the visualisation of the wheat in recalling God’s power.
• During the visit the farmer will explain the methods and techniques he uses when preparing the land, planting, tending the crop and harvesting. This provides opportunities to discuss the benefits and issues surrounding organic and non-organic farming. It is important that children understand the moral and practical issues. To discuss this on a farm adds some real context and quality to the debate. Again this can lead to enthusiastic follow-up work, developing children’s research skills. For example, children could find out from the school cook where the ingredients for school meals come from.
• In turn this can lead to a debate about food miles and the fresh local v organic produce. Once again, the local greengrocer adds value to the debate by coming to school to talk to the children about these issues, bringing real examples of food for the children to handle. This ‘hands-on’ approach stimulates greater understanding and appreciation.
• The children harvest their crop. Research on the use of wheat in cooking can include homework tasks designed to involve the children’s families. For example, each child is asked to compile a list of some of the uses and to bring a recipe to school. A recipe book for parents could be produced from this if further awareness-raising or fund raising for seeds, etc. is required.
• In Design and Technology children work on designing biscuits for Christmas, experimenting in small groups by baking biscuits with various recipes and designs. To make the task really meaningful and inspire the children to really think about their biscuit design, T.O.Williams, the local baker is asked to come along and explain to the children the criteria he would look for in a Christmas biscuit. He sets the children the challenge that if they are good enough, he will produce the winning biscuit and sell them in his shops. Each design is analysed by the children against set criteria including taste, texture and the Christmas theme. Finalists are agreed and Mr Williams selects the winning design – in the shape of a Christmas tree. He produces, packages and sells them in his shops at Christmas. The pride shown by the children is fantastic – something they will always remember. A real purpose producing very high quality D&T work and processes and firmly embedding the Food for Life Parternship within the curriculum! Some biscuits could be donated to the senior citizens that regularly visit the school for meals, illustrating care for members of the community.

This approach meets all the five Every Child Matters agenda outcomes.

• Be Healthy - links to healthy, balanced diets, home cooking, etc
• Stay Safe – safe practices in growing and cooking food
• Enjoy and Achieve – enjoyable, motivating learning activities, high standards, e.g. science/D&T
• Make a Positive Contribution – care for others
• Achieve Economic Well-being – sales of biscuits, recipe books, etc to pay for seeds, etc.

What they say

“Implementing Food for Life Partnership activities was initially additional work and we had to drive it through the leadership structure in the early days. Although we believed it had the capacity to improve our curriculum, it was seen by many staff as an additional workload, particularly since it was originally extra work on top of work that had already been planned. However, once children started to grow their own crops the benefits in motivation and self-esteem were immediately apparent.

“The second term was easier because the work was planned into the curriculum. Later, links were made with other curricular areas and the practice quickly became embedded in our approach to learning. The community was increasingly involved and this further cements the whole education approach within school.”

The difference it makes

The benefits to the school link to the whole ethos and aims of the school. All children are actively involved in decision making, negotiating, co-operating, gardening, farm visits, cooking, discussing food ethics linked in to wider ethical issues (e.g. Concern about the amount of food miles is not a straight forward issue - if ships are sailing anyway, why not load crops from Africa to help sustain the economy of developing economies?), developing citizenship skills, learning key life skills of resilience, responsibility, reflectivity, resourcefulness and reasoning - and having fun!

The Food for Life Partnership fits into our ethos – children are fully involved in their learning. The project fits beautifully into our personalised approach to accelerating learning through the context of a creative curriculum.

We benefited enormously from the support offered by the Food for Life partnership Team – from advice with SNAG meetings, to practical advice on growing crops, to the flexible use of the Cooking Bus. The school cook was also instrumental in developing the project, supported by our caterer Shire Services.