Engaging parents in after-school cooking clubs
Resource: Case study
Age: Primary
Coleridge Primary School and Children Centre is situated in Rotherham, South Yorkshire. The school serves an area of high social deprivation, and half of the pupils have special educational needs and/or disabilities. There are a large number of different minority ethnic groups, including an increasing proportion of asylum seekers and Traveller pupils, for whom English is often not their first language. Engaging parents in school activities has been particularly challenging for Coleridge.
What they've achieved
To involve parents in the Food for Life Partnership, Coleridge Primary School organises one-off after-school cookery and healthy eating clubs. It also used the Cooking Bus to maximum effect, which means that parents, along with their children, have been introduced to new cooking skills and healthy eating habits.
Every club has a different focus. For example, parents might learn more about seasonal produce or how to follow and alter recipes according to taste. At one of these sessions, parents and their children worked together to make a main course and dessert. This involved a skills demonstration, followed by the families cooking the meal together.
On a parents’ evening, families were invited to make a ‘Gruffalo’ crumble to take home to cook and eat as part of the school’s ‘Gruffalo fortnight’. On the same evening, parents were also given the opportunity to plant seeds, such as lettuce, which they could take home to grow.
What they say
Headteacher Jane White was delighted when a pupil said they had shared the cooking experience they had in school of making pizza with dad at home, and they were encouraging each other to try healthy toppings, such as sweetcorn and peppers, that they had never cooked before.
The difference it makes
These after-school clubs have raised awareness not only about healthy food, but also about the cost effectiveness of healthy food. Parents are always pleasantly surprised on finding how easy it can be to freshly prepare food, and how seasonal food can often be more affordable.
Introducing new skills, such as altering recipes to suit likes and dislikes, chopping and following instructions, means that parents are a lot more confident about letting their children help prepare the food or cook. More significantly, these food-centred activities have helped parents to communicate with their children more effectively.
Thanks to these clubs, the school has developed relationships with new parents. The school now has the opportunity to invite specific parents/families to take part in the activities, and parents now have a reason to come into school.